Peeta's Modern Life
by GreenEyedMonsters
Summary: Marriage is proving a challenge for Peeta Mellark. What do you do when your celebrity wife has her ex living down the road, her friends are alcoholics, and to cap it all...she doesn't want kids? Join Peeta in his quest for fatherhood and marital bliss...
1. Baby Blues

We left the seafood restaurant at around dusk after stuffing ourselves with lobster, crab, shrimp, you name it. Not so long ago I'd have felt guilty about consuming this much food and my social conscience would have gone into overdrive, but hey, I was on my honeymoon after all. Anyway, my wife – I can't believe I can actually say that! - deserves only the best after what she's been through. What we've both been through, actually.

To be honest, I'd have been happy with something a bit more low key. This fanciness made me feel a bit like a Capitol citizen, and brought back memories of the first lavish meal I'd had. But, like I said, I couldn't take Katniss to some greasy café for the evening could I?

We decided to go on an evening stroll after the meal was over, just to be together and admire the sunset. As we descended the stone steps to the beach and walked along the promenade, watching the deep pink sky fading to black, all had gone quiet. We both know equally well that sometimes, no words are needed. Except…there had been something playing on my mind for quite some time.

"Darling," I turned my head towards Katniss, and clasped her hand, "I really need to talk to you about something."

Katniss smiled and gave me a peck on the cheek, but looked a little worried when I didn't continue straight away, "What is it? I wish you would just come out with it, you know I don't like the suspense of these things."

I took a deep breath, knowing full well that I shouldn't breach the subject and that I'd probably regret it but decided to all the same.

"I was thinking about, well, that thing we were discussing not so long ago. I wasn't sure you'd…anyway, maybe we should sit down before we talk about it again." I put my arm around her and steered her to the nearest bench and we sat down facing the sea.

"Peeta," Katniss began tentatively, "you're beginning to scare me, and I can tell you're worrying about something." She put a comforting hand on my knee.

"No, it's nothing _bad._"

"Well, what?" Then, as she looked into my eyes, I could see a light bulb flicker. She shrugged my arm off and stood up. "We've talked about this," her voice was sharp and I knew there was no point, but I got up and faced her. I tried to hold her hands but she put them in her pockets stubbornly.

"But Katniss we're married now!"

"Yeah, and we agreed _before _the wedding. It was my only condition. No kids, Peeta. How could you ruin today bringing this up? You know how I feel about this." I guess this was fair enough. After everything we'd seen, and the terror that everyone in Panem had experienced up to only a few years ago, Katniss didn't want to bring a child into the world. But…

"Things are different now," I reminded her as we continued on our walk, "There aren't any Hunger Games and the war is over."

"For now," she replied.

"Now you're just being facetious. Anyway," I wrapped my arms around her from behind, "You'd be an amazing mother. It would be a shame to let all that go to waste. Don't pretend you don't want kids, because you do."

"Well…" Katniss held on to my hand and we walked side by side as we reached the end of the costal pavement. The tide was far out and, at this time of year and day, there was nobody around. My heart rose in anticipation as I could feel her resolve weakening. "Look Peeta, I- oh, don't give me the face." She rolled her eyes and looked away.

"The what?" I laughed.

"The _face_. The one you always make when you want something. It's not going to work!" But she was smirking all the same. I honestly had no idea that I had a 'face' that I made, but I'd have to make it more often, apparently.

"Katniss, I have no idea what you're talking about. I would never try to sweet talk you or anything of the sort. I take great offence to that."

"Oh, please. I've never met such a charmer. Well, except for Gale maybe…"

"Very funny. I seem to recall that _my _marital condition was that we never speak about him ever again." This was actually true, sort of. I tried to pass it off as a joke but obviously Gale Hawthorne was not my favourite topic of conversation with Katniss. Except for the time when he was forced to flee District Two when his girlfriend dumped him after he cheated on her. That was quite funny. Except that he was now living down the road from us, which was a real annoyance.

"Peeta, are you alright? It was just a joke, you know."

"Oh…yeah I know." The thought of Gale suddenly made me want to have children with Katniss even more, for some reason. I also got a strange impulse to assert my virility. "So," I put my arm round Katniss in a gesture of manliness, "you were saying you would think about kids, right?"

"I didn't say that," she began sharply, "but…yeah. I guess I will think about it. But not for a few years yet; I'm only twenty-three. I want to make sure that…this country really is safe for a child. Plus, I don't want the press sticking their noses in, like they did at the wedding."

Ah yes. I thought of the 'private' ceremony at the local registry only a few days ago, which had turned into a nightmare. Obviously we're pretty big celebrities in Panem now; the golden couple ever since our first Hunger Games, so everyone wanted a glimpse of the wedding. I don't know how the press got hold of the date and time of the ceremony, but I suspected that a certain alcoholic who gave Katniss away may have been taken advantage of... Anyway, Katniss was right. I didn't want any child of mine to become part of that circus.

"Can you imagine?" Katniss continued, "What would happen if some of our enemies found out we had a child, or somehow the Hunger Games was re-instated? Our child would be first in line." She was rapidly returning to her original train of thought, so I tried to change the subject.

I leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Let's walk back to the hotel. I have a brilliant idea that I think you'll love."

Katniss nodded. "Yeah, it's getting a bit chilly out here." She huddled into me and we turned back. "I hope this idea isn't something that requires a lot of effort. I went canoeing yesterday, and that's the only exercise I want to do on my honeymoon."

"Oh no, it's nothing like that. I just thought that you'd like to go out to a nice pub for a drink this evening. I noticed a nice one in town earlier, and it's too early to go to bed yet."

Katniss sighed, "Well I'm a bit tired to go out. Can't we just get room service? Besides," she leaned in a little closer, "we went to bed at four in the afternoon yesterday. You weren't saying it was too early _then_."

"I know," I replied, blushing as I remembered, "but I bought you something nice to wear for the occasion."

"Really?" Katniss asked, surprised. "What?"

"You'll have to wait and see!" I was excited now; I'd been waiting for an opportunity like this to be my trump card. When Katniss saw what I'd prepared for her there was no way on Earth that she'd be able to look me in the eye – while I was making the face – and tell me that she didn't want babies just as much as I did. I had every confidence that, if I said all the right things, I'd be ready for baby-making in a few hours.

Persuasion, thy name is Peeta Mellark.

We arrived back at the hotel in only a few short minutes. It wasn't an amazing place; it had been a hostel before all the trouble broke out, and not much had been upgraded. The paintwork was dull and faded, and a lot of rough people were staying there. However, I'd managed to get Katniss and I a fairly romantic bedroom with a sea view and en suite on the top floor. The girl at the reception recognised us and handed us the room key. She beamed and me and flashed me a wink when Katniss wasn't looking.

"OK," I said when we reached our room, "I want you to go into the bathroom while I get it ready for you." I reached under the bed to retrieve our suitcases. "Go on!"

"But Peeta…what's to get ready?"

"I need to get ready!"

"But why do I need to-?"

"Katniss!"

"Fine!" she laughed and went into the en suite, closing the door behind her.

I'd brought a large suitcase for our clothes and a small holdall 'for bits and pieces'. I'd always been quicker at getting organised than Katniss, so I'd packed all of the luggage so she hadn't noticed the extra couple of things I'd stored. I'd brought an outfit for myself as well, and I changed into it quickly, stopping to check my reflection in the mirror before laying out Katniss' dress on the bed for her.

"Hey, you can come out now!"

Katniss opened the bathroom door and gaped in astonishment at me, before she saw her own dress lying on the bed. She didn't say anything for a few seconds, and then ran up and threw her arms around me, kissing me as she did. "Peeta, how did you do this?"

I was wearing a replica of the costume I had first worn during the Hunger Games which Portia and Cinna had designed. Katniss' "girl on fire" dress looked exactly the same as the original too. She picked it up gently and placed it against her body. I knew that she wasn't really into dresses or make-up, but this one had a special meaning to both of us. To me, these outfits symbolised the beginning of our life together, when we had both been thrown into the Hunger Games and preened almost beyond recognition. I like to think that when I wore this outfit, it was the first time Katniss ever really admired me.

"I got some photos of the originals and spoke to your prep team to get your measurements. Obviously the ones were wore on that day were destroyed, so…I wasn't sure whether you'd like it or whether you'd rather forget. I thought it would be a good reminder of Cinna and Portia."

Katniss looked as though she might cry, but sniffed and kissed me gently again. "I love it, Peeta."

I seized the moment. "The children will think it's beautiful." I gave her 'the face' for good measure, expecting her to leap into my arms and agree. Instead, she looked furious, and threw her dress back on to the bed. "What's the matter?" I asked, completely stunned.

"You planned this all along didn't you?"

I knew what she meant. "What are you-?"

"You went to all this trouble just to emotionally blackmail me into agreeing to give birth to your children. I can't believe you."

"I didn't!" I argued, "Well…yes children would be nice, but I wanted to do something nice for you."

"I can't believe you tried to give me the face!"

"I- I don't mean to do that."

"You did just now. It doesn't work when you consciously do it."

"Look, I'm really sorry I brought it up, but I just want to have a baby with you so much! Can't you understand that?" I was furious. I knew that I'd been wrong to keep pressing the issue, but after all I'd done for her, I still sometimes feel like I'm constantly fighting for her.

"I'm going for a drink in the bar. I think I need one."

"Don't you want to try on your dress?"

"…I will later." With that, she left the room, slamming the door behind her. It opened again a second later. "I forgot my purse." Slam.

I sad down on the bed, feeling completely deflated. Looked like there was going to be no sex tonight, productive or otherwise. But more than that, I knew that I'd just blown my chance to talk Katniss round. I knew how stubborn she was; it could potentially be months before she'd be willing to discuss the subject again, and I just wasn't prepared to wait that long.

I needed another plan, I thought, as I undressed and slipped into bed. There had to be some way of legitimately convincing her that we were meant to be parents. You'd think that simply being alive and with Katniss would be enough, but it wasn't. I needed to be a father, it was just an instinct I had. I felt incomplete without it. And the mother of my child had to be Katniss; there was no question of that, because I loved her. I couldn't trick her into it, or guilt trip her or whatever.

I squirmed around in bed. I tried to lie as suggestively as possible, hoping that when she'd come in, she'd be a bit more amorous. Then I suddenly realised what the problem was. I was trying too hard. Trying too hard to please Katniss, that was why she took me for granted. I felt bad admitting it to myself…but that was exactly the point! Look at the way I went to all that effort with the outfits. If I didn't constantly worship her, she'd find me manlier and be desperate to have my babies. Well…maybe it wouldn't be quite that simple.

I waited up until she returned from the bar, and rolled over as she got into bed, facing away from her. I wasn't about to ask her whether or not she'd had a nice time. I remembered my own parents' marriage and not once did they bother making small talk like that. And they had children!

"Peeta, I'm sorry," Katniss whinged in my ear, her voice a little slower, as it always was when she'd had a drink. Well, it was all well and good her saying sorry, but she wasn't getting off that lightly. "It was a beautiful dress, I'm so glad I married you." She kissed me on the neck.

Immediately, I rolled over. "That's OK, darling. I'm sorry too. I should never have upset you, talking about children on our special week away. Let's not talk about it any more." So I kissed her, but…then she started snoring.

FML. I am actually pathetic. Whatever happened to "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen"? Maybe it just wasn't me. But I did know someone who _was_ like that. Someone I knew Katniss thought was a lot manlier than me. Someone who could help me become a baby-making machine.

I hate to admit it, but I had to call Gale in for a favour.


	2. The Agreement

Author's Note: Well, basically I'd first like to thank everyone who reviewed and gave me such positive responses; you all really made my week. Also, I hope everyone reading has had a Merry Christmas, and wish you all a Happy New Year!

I crept out of bed early the next morning to sneak down to the lobby and telephone Gale before Katniss woke up. I was better at waking up early than she was, but I had a routine at home where I'd get washed and wait for Katniss before getting dressed which I didn't like to be disrupted. I had to dash back into the room when I realised that I was naked save for a pair of polka dot boxerbriefs I'd received as a wedding present that Katniss likes me wearing. As it happens, Johanna Mason got them for me (I think she fancies me), but I didn't tell Katniss otherwise she wouldn't let me wear them…and I actually think they're really comfy. I was reminded of how that was another example of my subservience to Katniss, and it annoyed me.

So I went downstairs to the reception desk so that I could use the telephone there. We didn't bring any phones of our own because we wanted the honeymoon all to ourselves. When I got down to the entrance, the lobby was completely empty; I hadn't actually realised how early it was. I approached the reception desk and rang the bell, feeling guilty if I was waking anyone up. However, luckily a cheery-looking portly middle aged man bustled out of the office behind the desk to assist me, fully dressed in a sea-green waistcoat and trousers uniform. He peered at me briefly and his face lit up, evidently realising who I was.

"Mr. Mellark!" he exclaimed, before his smile faltered, "Is everything alright, sir? You're up very early. My name's Hunter, by the way." We shook hands.

"Nice to meet you. Oh, everything's fine. I was just wondering if I could make a phone call to District 12 from here. I know that it might be expensive but-"

"Not at all!" he looked shocked that I'd even had to ask. "You don't even have to ask. The phone is right here," he reached over the counter with one of his hands on my back and the other pointing to the telephone at the other end of the desk, guiding me as though I were stupid.

"Thank you," I replied, about to pick up the receiver (it was a marvellously old-fashioned thing) when I was distracted by noises coming from the other end of the room. I could here the sound of wheeled suitcases on carpet and after glancing at the tired-looking group of people dressed for warmth, I guessed they'd been on a fairly long overnight journey.

"Ah," Hunter waved over at the new arrivals, "duty calls." He walked around the counter and started to make his way towards them. "Oh," he turned back to me, "if it's a call of a more…private nature, feel free to use the office telephone." He beamed at me, indicating the door he'd come out of. I decided that using the office telephone was actually a good idea. I doubted anyone would care less if they overheard a stranger talking to his former love rival. But, you know, I'm famous. These people might know me.

So I went into the office and found it unoccupied. It was terribly scruffy, with papers strewn everywhere, half-empty cups of coffee, packets of crisps which were beginning to smell…but I picked my way over to the desk and found the phone, picking up the dusty receiver and dialled Gale's home number, nervous about what I would say to him.

The phone rang for about thirty seconds before I got an answer.

"Uh…hello?" Gale's weak, tired voice was unmistakeable. I would have felt bad about waking him up around four hours earlier than usual but…it was only Gale after all.

"Hey Gale, it's Peeta."

"Peeta?" he was instantly alert. "What is it? Is Katniss alright?"

"Yeah, yeah she's fine..." I said quickly, "don't worry about her. I just wanted to speak to you."

"At this hour?" he asked incredulously, "You called me at seven in the morning to have a social chat? Screw this…"

"Wait a minute!" I snapped, "Just be grateful that we're in the same time zone! Look, I know you're tired and probably hung over-"

"Piss off, Mellark."

"Well are you?"

"Yeah…but that's not the point."

I gritted my teeth in annoyance. "Look, you don't have a lady with you, do you? Because I want to talk about Katniss."

Gale paused. "No," he admitted ruefully, "I'm on my- it's ok, mom, nothing's happened!"

I suppressed a snort of laughter. I was going to ignore the voice of Gale's mother in the background, but couldn't resist a quick dig. "So how is your mother? It's a shame to wake her up. I didn't need to wake Katniss up; she's still sleeping in our bedroom while I'm in the lobby."

"Why? Are you going behind her back to call me? That's a bit bitchy. Better not let the press know about that, Saint Peeta. Anyway, I would like to get back to sleep, so could you please get to the point?"

Sometimes I forget that Gale is a lot more quick-witted than I like to pretend. "Well actually it's a bit delicate. I'm actually quite embarrassed now; maybe I shouldn't have called you." I could genuinely feel myself squirming in my seat. I'm not a person who's easily embarrassed or nervous, so it's not a familiar situation for me at all.

"No…go on." I could feel Gale softening a bit now. Maybe he was concerned. Or maybe he was just interested because I'd said it was delicate, and he wanted a chance to make fun of me.

"It's just…I know how close you and Katniss have always been, and she doesn't have any girl friends I can talk to about this. I needed to ask your advice. I want to be a dad and-"

"Peeta…" Gale sighed, "It's the 28th century, you really shouldn't have had to wait until your honeymoon before you learned how to-"

"Gale, will you shut up!"

"Fine, I'm listening. Take a joke will you?"

"Anyway, the bottom line is that I can't convince Katniss to have children with me. I know this sounds stupid but I want them so badly. I feel that is she doesn't want my children then she doesn't want me." This was true, and I was very ashamed to admit it, especially to Gale.

"But you're even younger than me and you only just got married. You can't expect Katniss to start having kids straight away."

"You didn't hear the way she was speaking though…" I realised how pathetic I sounded, and Gale was probably right that I was just making an issue from nothing, but still…

"Look Peeta, if you really want children that badly, then how about I talk to Katniss about it for you?"

I considered for a moment. I didn't really want it to be Gale who talked Katniss around to having children. I just wanted him to help me be the one to talk her round. I knew then that phoning him up when I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted from him was a mistake. "Look Gale…no offence but if you suddenly start chatting to Katniss about having kids with me it would look a bit strange. You're not really the type of guy who talks about things like that. I mean…you're not her gay best friend are you?" I have to admit, I was sort of hoping that he was. Highly unlikely, but still.

He was indignant. "Okay, let's think. The number of people- women- that I've slept with versus the number of women you've slept with is…"

"Alright, I wasn't accusing you of anything!"

"Good. Flavius is her gay best friend. I'm her best _guy _friend."

"Well actually Gale, that's why I'm phoning you partly."

"At last, you get to the point. Wait…what is the point then?"

"I was hoping to become more assertive and…stereotypically masculine. Katniss thinks I'm a pushover."

Gale's reaction was entirely expected. I could practically hear him shaking with pride and glee. "So you think I'm a big he-man, do you?"

I cringed, "Don't let it go to your head, Gale. I've read what they say about you in the trashy newspapers. How you're such a big hunter-gatherer. How you've now got this reputation as a big player and all that crap. Well, you _are_ a bit of a player, that bit's the truth I guess."

"I am _not_ a player! I just…haven't found the right woman to settle down with yet. You know what those articles are like, Peeta. They'll write anything to sell a story. I actually read a story yesterday that you're doing a new reality show called _The Only Way Is District Twelve. _Please tell me that's not true."

"Of course not! We did get approached about it just before we went on honeymoon, but they said they would do it anyway, with people who weren't even famous. Who would watch that, though?"

"Hmm." Gale seemed to be considering something, and I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the reality show. "Listen Peeta, I'll help you out and everything, but I honestly don't understand what it is you want me to teach you. You certainly didn't seem all that nervous during the interviews with Flickerman. Plus, you've fought in two Hunger Games. I don't think you're a coward by any means."

"I know that! Like I said, I just want Katniss to stop taking me for granted."

"You think that's how it is with you two?"

"Yeah, sometimes."

"Okay then…but then I want you to do something for me in return for this favour."

"What's that…?" I asked apprehensively.

"Well I was thinking, maybe it is time I settled down. The thing is, how am I supposed to find a steady girlfriend when I have this 'reputation' and live with my mother? I'm in disgrace, so my military career is over for another year at least. The point is, women love _you_, Peeta, because you know what to say to them. I used to think that baking and painting were pathetic, but you knew that the whole sensitivity thing is the key to maintaining interest. Not just of girls, but other people."

I'm sure there was a compliment in there somewhere. I was quite stunned; actually, that Gale was asking _me_ for help in this way. "Thanks Gale, but you know, I actually enjoy baking and decorating, I don't just do it to impress people…anyway, yes I'll help you find a nice girlfriend, if you think that I can."

"You'll be my wingman?"

"What's that?"

He laughed slightly derisively. "Never mind. So do we have a deal then? We'll help each other out?"

"Sure." I was relieved. In all honesty I'd always been insecure about Gale, but it turns out he felt the same way about me. But I was the one with Katniss, not him. This was the longest conversation with him I think I'd ever had, and he finally seemed to be accepting that fact. I genuinely hoped that I could help him find a girlfriend…then maybe he'd stop lingering round our place…

"Anyway, shouldn't you be getting back to your wife?"

"Oh," I hadn't realised how long I'd been gone. "Yeah I guess you're right. See you when we get back." I went to hang up.

"Peeta? Remember, as far as Katniss goes, we still hate each other. We should snub each other in public, and behave civilly at best in private."

"Good idea."

"Okay, have a nice time then." He hung up.

I left the office, thanking Hunter by way of a thumbs-up and headed up the stairs to my room, only to find Katniss emerging, looking flustered. She heaved a sigh when she saw me, apparently relieved but quickly narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

"Where've you been?" she asked, "I wondered where you were."

"Oh, I just had to sort out our bill," I trotted out the line I'd prepared for this very situation. Katniss looked a little suspicious.

"This early in the morning? And what do you mean 'sort out'? We paid for everything when we arrived."

Again, I'd prepared for this. "Well apparently there was a bit of a problem with the transfer. Our card wasn't immediately recognised in the District Four area under the recently established Intra-Financial Relations Commission and so-"

"OK, never mind," she laughed, "but why couldn't it have waited until later?"

"Well I didn't want to bother you, darling. It could have taken a long time to sort out and we _are_ on our honeymoon." I kissed her on the cheek. "Are you ready for breakfast? We might as well head down now that we're here. They open about now."

"Sure," she replied, "let's go."

Breakfast at the hotel was a self-serve arrangement, with a variety of delicacies on offer. Katniss and I both liked to avoid the district's signature seafood dishes this early in the morning so we both went for coffee and waffles. Katniss took her plate over to the steaming bowl of maple syrup to drench hers in, but I stuck with simple strawberries, minus the cream.

Katniss looked surprised. "What's with the lack of sugar? This isn't like you, or are you just pacing yourself?" We sat down at a table next to a window which overlooked the car park, because Katniss liked to see the new guests arriving of a morning. Compared to the beauty of the flat plains of the District rolling down to meet the sea it was a poor view as far as I was concerned, but I didn't generally mind, so long as I was With Katniss.

"Oh…well I thought I'd try and be a bit more healthy." This was true; at home baking for a living wasn't really good for my gut when I was snacking throughout the day. Plus, since I'd be spending more time with Gale from now on, I really didn't need to feel fat in front of him of all people. "Yeah, do you know how many calories are in that syrup? It's very bad for you. I need to set a good example for my fans…oh, and I want to look good for you, obviously."

"So why didn't you go for the wholegrain cereal that is…" she craned her head to look at the box "'now with 10% more fibre'?" She took a sip from her mug.

"Let's not go mad, Katniss."

We both laughed loudly to the point that Katniss spat some of her coffee on to her waffles, dribbling it down her chin.

"Steady on!" I cried, "Do you want me to wipe your mouth?" I reached for the napkin before she batted my hand away. "I just think that it's good to make changes to my diet."

"You're not fat, Peeta." She took on a more serious tone now, "and remember, not so long ago we'd have killed to be fat, because it would mean we had enough food to survive and then some. You should be grateful for it. Now, I'm going to get a refill. Do you want me to get you some ice cream for your waffles?"

"Erm…ok then." I relented.

"Good, because you're on your honeymoon too and you should eat whatever the hell you want." She took my plate and went over to the self-service counter, making me feel extremely guilty about my earlier excuse for being out of bed. When she returned, I demolished the waffles in about ten seconds.

"So," I asked her, "what do you think we should do today?"

"What do you think we should do?"

"I don't care," I smiled lovingly, "I just want to spend as much time with you as possible before we get back and have everyone else to deal with…"

"Mmm," Katniss seemed to agree, "Though I have to admit, I've missed them. Well, by 'them' I mean Haymitch and Gale. I could do without- oh Peeta, don't look like that, Gale isn't a taboo subject. You know, you haven't spoken to him in ages. He probably thinks you're rude." She'd mistake my sudden twitch for annoyance rather than surprise.

"Well, I hope he doesn't expect me to call him up while I'm on my honeymoon."

"Of course not, and I'd never call him either. It's our special time together. But…you did 'win', Peeta. I love you more than him. I think you should be the one to try and make the first effort."

"Yeah…maybe when we get back I'll go hunting with him."

Katniss looked shocked. "Well, yeah but honestly I thought it would be harder to convince you than this." She beamed, "and you can teach him how to paint! Not sure he'd go for that, though. It could be bad for his reputation."

"Oh, I think he'd go for it," I was quite enthusiastic, "When we get back, we can even swap lads' stories and-"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, er…" I struggled to explain, "Well, I mean, you've got to admit, he is a bit of a machine when it comes to women. Even I acknowledge that."

"Peeta, what's come over you today? I thought the health kick- or what would have been- was motivated out of jealousy for Gale, now you're talking about him like you're a member of his fan club."

"I have a fan club too!" I exclaimed, rather ridiculously.

"You were being sarcastic, weren't you? Here I was, thinking that you're actually prepared to bury the hatchet and-"

"I'm perfectly genuine! I can honestly say that I'm no longer jealous of Gale, and that I will make an effort with him, if it's what you want."

That seemed to have done it. Katniss' sceptical look vanished. "Good. I'll talk to Gale-"

"No need! I'm the one who makes the first effort, right? I'll speak to him myself."

Katniss smiled. "Good. Are you finished eating yet? Let's go back upstairs and get ready."

"Oh really?" I replied suggestively, "what for?"

"You'll see. I have plans for today." She held out her hand and we walked from the kitchen to the lobby before ascending the stairs, just as other guests were coming down for breakfast.

"Well," I leaned in and whispered in her ear, thinking I was OK to get away with a joke, "Just don't call me Gale this time."

"What, when I'm telling you to carry our souvenirs?"

"Oh, ha ha. Is that what we're doing today then? Are we buying something for Gale when we're out, or…?"

"You're becoming obsessed with him! I might have to tell him about your special underwear. Perhaps I could lend him a pair."

"Don't you dare, Katniss…you wouldn't, would you?"

"Course not, you fool." She patted my stomach, "The waist would be too big, for starters."


	3. Returning Home

The honeymoon was over. I have to be honest, I was totally relieved. I couldn't wait to be back at home to start our married life properly. Of course, Katniss and I had already been living together for most of the time ever since that rebellion was over, but I knew it would be ten times better now that we were husband and wife.

"I'll be glad when this journey's over," Katniss muttered, sitting opposite me.

"I don't know," I mused, "Don't you think it's relaxing to just gaze out the window and watch the world go by?"

"I'd rather keep gazing at you," she smiled, "No; it's just that trains bring back bad memories for me, that's all."

"So it's not that the train's too fancy or anything?" I laughed. I'd booked us into first class- on a luxury train at the last minute. That should tell you how expensive it was. Our bed in the cabin was actually much more comfortable than the one at the hotel, and it had a minibar. The ensuite was a little small, but we were only on the train for one night, so it didn't really matter.

"Oh no! I'm sorry Peeta, the train's lovely…I just think I need to get the idea that we're going to be rerouted to the Capitol out of my head."

We'd got on the train about two hours ago, and had quite a journey ahead of us. We couldn't really think of what to do at the moment. We'd missed breakfast and we'd already stopped off for lunch at a café near the station, and dinner would be a while yet. I was pretty hungry; my diet wasn't going so well.

There was a T.V. in the room but I neither of us have ever had a great love for T.V., for the same reasons Katniss hated travelling by train. Well, almost. Even though the world was on the way to the way it should be, there always seemed to be bad things going on in Panem. Still, Katniss and I hadn't kept track of the news recently, so I decided to have a flick through the channels to see if there was anything worth watching.

There was nothing doing on the main channels, so I flicked to the news ones. Immediately, images of a burning building appeared above the headline _Breaking News: More Riots in District Two_.

"What's going on?" Katniss wondered aloud, as we watched the story intently.

"_It appears that this time small businesses are being targeted rather than government properties," _the female reporter told the studio. _"There are no fatalities this time, although the residents of this area may be waiting for a while on supplies of fresh meat from elsewhere. As you know, District Two is not well known as a farming district, and with two butchers' shops burned to the ground, it seems that someone is trying to set a precedent…"_

"Well, I can't say I'm too sympathetic," Katniss declared, "All those years of kissing the Capitol's ass hasn't really paid off has it?"

I was in two minds. I did agree with Katniss; District Two had done alright for itself over the years, and was still pretty prosperous now. I'm sure that the residents would be just fine and like the announcer said, nobody had died…this time. On the other hand, it was all very unsettling. I wondered why people would be doing this.

"_Doria, I think I can see that the fires are getting under control from here…is that right?"_

"_Yes, everything seems to be alright thankfully. I'm standing further down the street talking to people who look like they'll be affected by this…" _The camera panned back to an attractive blonde woman – Doria- holding the microphone, a look of feigned sympathy across her face as she put her arm around an elderly man who was waving contentedly at the camera. I'd seen Doria Lint on the news channels quite a few times. She was like the post-revolution Effie Trinket. _"Mr. Joplin here is a butcher whose livelihood has been completely destroyed by these criminals. Mr Joplin, could you please describe to the viewers how you're feeling right now?_

"_Oh, I'm alright really," _he smiled jovially, _"I'm insured."_

Doria Lint paused awkwardly. _"Well that's lovely, but what about people who want their meat? They may have to travel elsewhere won't they?"_

"_Yes, well. Worse things have happened."_

"There you are!" Katiniss said triumphantly, "It's all a big fuss over nothing. Let's change the channel, see if there's anything else interesting. And we might as well use the minibar; I haven't actually looked to see what's in. Anything good?"

"Er…" I crawled across the bed and leaned into the corner to inspect the booze. Opening the fridge I found that there was a bit of selection, but nothing that leapt out at me. "There's a few miniature bottles of wine- red, white and rosé. There's a couple of bottles of beer and cider and some cans of Red Bull."

"What's 'Red Bull'?"

"I don't know…but it says it's like some energy drink. Do you want one?" I asked.

"Urgh, no thanks. Pass me a bottle of white wine; I'll get my own glass."

I withdrew from the fridge with a white and red wine, settling back into my original position. Katniss and I poured our drinks.  
>"Let's have a toast," said Katniss, holding my hand and nestling in beside me. "To us. To us and our married life."<p>

"I'll drink to that," I laughed. We chinked our glasses together. I took a sip of my wine, and it tasted quite sweet, but not too sweet. "Hmm, mine's actually quite nice. It's a good thing Haymitch isn't here!"

"I know. Hey, do you think that we can take any of it back for him? I mean, it's complimentary, isn't it? It's not like stealing."

I considered. "Well…I guess we could, but wouldn't that be a bit rude? He's a drunk, but he's not stupid. It would be pretty obvious we didn't buy it."

Katniss nodded. "True. I feel a bit guilty though, returning with nothing."

"It's your honeymoon! You're not supposed to buy presents for people are you?"

"I know, but…he's done so much for us. Him and Gale."

"I don't think Gale would want a present. It would be a bit of a kick in the teeth for him. He might think I was bragging. 'Hi Gale, I married Katniss but here's some nice District Four caviar sticks!'"

Katniss laughed. "I wasn't talking about him. But yes, I agree with you; Gale wouldn't want that."

* * *

><p>We sat in silence for a few moments watching the news. There was nothing particularly interesting on; only something about slight inflation in the eastern regions and plans to construct a new railway somewhere. I turned the set off.<p>

"Today's newspaper is on the dressing table," Katniss observed.

"If this is as interesting as it gets in the first few weeks, what are the next few years going to be like?" I was only joking, but it was quite depressing that we'd resorted to reading the news for excitement during our "alone time"…but we'd been alone for quite some time now. Neither of us was really the type to sit back and let the world drift by. This was another thing which I'd always admired about her.

"Oh, dear…look who's basking in the media spotlight again."

Katniss had fetched the paper from the dresser and begun to flick through it. She began smirking as pulled out the magazine supplement and tossed it on the bed for us both to see. Of course, Gale Hawthorne was today's coverboy. Actually, it wasn't just Gale. In keeping with his public persona, they'd dressed him up in some hunting uniform, told him to look angry and stuck two corset-bound glamour models on each of his arms to at him adoringly. The bastard.

"This paper just gets trashier, doesn't it? Peeta? Peeta!" she laughed and smacked me lightly with the magazine.

"Uhm, what? I mean, yeah sure."

"Anyway… do you want to read it? He'll probably have mentioned us at some point…"

"How do you know?"

"Because it says 'Why Gale Hawthorne is finally putting Katniss and Peeta behind him.'" she read out in a mock-excited voice.

"Oh, right. I didn't see that bit."

"Yeah, I noticed."

"Anyway, what page is it on?"

_Remember the time when we all thought that Gale Hawthorne was Panem's most dashing hero? Somehow, even when things couldn't have looked bleaker, his fans all knew that he'd make it out of the Capitol alive, a glittering future ahead of him. Not just that, but also that he'd one day be walking down this aisle with the lovely "Mockingjay" Katniss Everdeen. However, it transpired that her relationship with Peeta Mellark was real after all, and poor Gale was cast into the shadow of a seemingly lesser man._

"Lesser man?"

"Shh, I'm trying to read this."

"_It really broke my heart, to be honest," Gale tells me, and I can see it's not easy to be so frank, coming from such a proud man. "I'd loved Katniss for such a long time, and thought she loved me back. I thought she was just playing up for the cameras with Peeta. But I'm over it now; I'm just very happy for her and Peeta."_

_So happy in fact, that Gale gladly obliged when Peeta asked him to be best man at his wedding to Katniss, which as of this publication occurred only a few weeks ago._

Of course, that wasn't actually _my _idea.

_So it seems that all's well that ends well for Peeta and Katniss, and their relationship with Gale. But what about Gale himself? After an impoverished childhood in an area of District 12 known as the "seam", followed by his participation in the revolution, he attempted to settle down to a quiet but successful life in District 2. However, things didn't quite go to plan._

"_I started drinking a lot," Gale admits ruefully. "It's easy to get caught up in that party culture when you've never experienced it. I didn't really understand what excess was."_

_It was certainly a culture shock. This didn't bode too well with his blossoming career in the military; the lifestyle ironically more similar to his former life in District 12. Had he started out at the bottom like most men his own age however, things might have been different._

"_I'd managed to get fast-tracked to becoming a sergeant, which was a real honour that I could never live up to. I'd been recognised for my skills during the revolution, but basically I couldn't handle the responsibilities of my job and my home life."_

_So, after a series of poor management choices under the influence, Gale was discharged for a year. Not just that, but with the media still hanging around Gale, his relationship came under strain._

"_The thing was, my girlfriend at the time was reading all these stories about how I was a player or that I wasn't over Katniss. We came under quite a lot of scrutiny from all the tabloids."_

_Ahem, yes. But undoubtedly, Gale must take responsibility for his alleged womanising ways?_

"_Of course I do," he says, "I just wasn't ready for a long term relationship and it kind of ended really badly…but I'm not a player, not really. I'd love to get settled down and have a family one day. As it is, I'm getting my life back in order first."_

_Before he can return to the military (at a lower grade, unfortunately), Gale has decided to devote his energies to more productive activities.  
>"I've always been a hunter, so PanemTV got in contact with me because they were interested in starting a series about it. There are a lot of disadvantaged kids in this country, and we're going to be taking them off to camp to learn survival skills for a few weeks. I was delighted; this is exactly what kids in my district could have benefitted from when I was growing up."<em>

_But isn't Gale nervous about appearing on TV?_

"_Oh no," he laughs, "I've got a very good coach to help me. I'm hoping he and Katniss will come along at some point during the series, wouldn't that be interesting?"_

_It would indeed._

* * *

><p>Katniss and I sat staring at the article.<p>

"What the hell..?"

"Didn't you know about this?" I asked her.

"No! And I'm certainly not appearing in his stupid TV show!" she grabbed the magazine and chucked it on the floor. "And what does he mean when he said about you being his coach? I assume he was talking about you."

I wondered what Gale was playing at. I knew I couldn't refuse him if he asked me to appear on his show…if that was what he wanted. I also had a horrible feeling that if I didn't comply then he'd tell Katniss that I'd asked him for help. "I don't know…do you think he's just trying to get us to boost his reputation again?"

"Well, I'm having words with him when I get back."

"Good. But maybe we should appear on his show; it could be good."

"What," Katniss said sharply, "do you want to do that for?" Then she softened, "I hope you're not just saying that for me."

No, not exactly, I thought.

"The thing is, he's never seemed like the type to want to be famous," I considered. "Maybe he just wants to help all those kids. I kind of agree with him on that, and now that we're celebrities it's not like we can just go back to our normal lives. It might be good to give something back."

Katniss snapped, "Give something back? After all we've done already? I just want to get back to a normal life thank you very much. What happened to opening a café together? Don't you want to do that anymore?"

"Of course I do!"

She eyed me suspiciously. "You like being famous, don't you?"

"No," I lied, "I hate it as much as you do."

"Yeah right! You're so up for going on this reality TV show. The camera loves you and you know it does. The whole country loves you." I detected a slight hint of jealousy as she folded her arms and turned away from me.

"No they don't…I mean, yeah they do, but they love you too 'Miss Mockingjay'"

She let out an involuntary giggle. "Don't call me that, I don't like it. All the papers had me down as some kind of temptress."

"You are a temptress."

"Excuse me?"

"You tempt me all the time. I'm powerless to resist you."

"Oh, shut up. What are you after? Like I need to ask."

"I have an _amazing_ idea. Get off the bed for a moment." She obliged, with a puzzled expression. Balancing the pillows in a sort of tower, I carefully pulled the duvet over them, creating a tent shape.

"Peeta, what _are_ you doing?"

"Wait a minute!" I took off my trousers and buried myself under the covers, poking my head out to talk to Katniss. "I've actually had this idea for a while. Let's pretend we're back in the arena for our first Hunger Games. I've just been injured and you're going to treat me in the cave."

Katniss burst out laughing, "Really? OK, then, begin."

"Begin what?" I was slightly confused.

"Moaning in agony! I can't take this seriously if there's clearly nothing wrong with you."

I was suddenly embarrassed. "Uh ok…" I envisaged the situation in my head. "First you have to get into the cave, and look at my leg." She crawled in, beside me. "Good, now then…uhh Katniss, it really hurts. You go on without me…you deserve to survive…"

"Uhm…well, it looks really bad," Katniss inspected my invisible injury. "I'll just get a better look," she went to lift the duvet cover.

"No, there was none of that in the real cave!"

"Alright! OK, where was I…Peeta, hang in there, I'm sure Haymitch will send me something to help you." She'd lowered her voice to a whisper, shaking with suppressed laughter.

"Katniss…I love you, maybe your kisses will make me feel better…"

"Darling," Katniss kissed me, "I promise to spend the rest of my life with you, you can't die- you have to help me and Finnick-"

"Haven't met him yet."

"Uh…I mean, you have to help me fight Cato so we can win together!"

"Katniss…"

"Peeta…"

We both burst out laughing, but were cut short by a knock at the door.

"Goddammit," I hissed, "Just a minute, _darling_, I'll get rid of them." I slid out from the covers and walked over to the door, "It's probably just some steward asking if we want something."

"Peeta, wait-"

"I'll only be a second," I opened the door and turned to the caller, giving my biggest professional smile. I faltered when I realised that it was actually more than one caller. They weren't just callers either. In the first second I observed a couple of microphones, and a camera, as well as half a dozen sloppily dressed individuals, who looked overcome with glee.

It was a film crew, and here I was in my underwear. I was halfway through slamming the door as the flash of the camera went off.

**FML.**


	4. Who Needs Normality, Anyway?

"What are we going to do?" I cried, locking the door as soon as it slammed shut behind me. Instantly, fists began pounding on the wood, along with loud voices electric with excitement at having just scored a scoop. I turned to face my wife, hoping she'd have a fast answer.

Katniss looked panicked, but quickly composed herself and rearranged her clothing. "Just put your trousers on!" she hissed, "Then we can think of a way to get rid of them. Hurry!"

I darted over to my trousers and was so hasty that I accidentally put both feet down one leg, falling over in the process and slamming my face into the carpet. Katniss rushed over to me moaning on the floor, and helped me into my trousers, cursing at my clumsiness. She pulled me up on my feet and we stood facing one another for a second, trying to ignore the growing voices from outside.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"Yeah fine…" I replied, rubbing my numb nose. "How are we going to get rid of them? Do you think we should just pretend that they aren't there? It's not like they can wait forever."

Katniss seemed to consider it, before frowning. "No. It's not right; you've paid a lot of money for this train ride and we're on our honeymoon. There's no reason why we should have to put up with this."

"So what are you saying? We can't exactly throw them off the train."

"True," Katniss admitted ruefully, "in that case…I think we should let them in for a moment. There didn't seem to be that many of them."

"Are you mad? They'll-"

"They'll go away if we give them a quick interview," Katniss tried to reassure me, but she looked a little uncertain. "Anyway, we've got nothing to hide. You're great at doing interviews, and I thought you enjoyed it."

"Not on my honeymoon…not like this." My heart sank. All I'd wanted was a few weeks to spend time with my new wife, just like everyone else. Had that really been so much to expect?

"I know," Katniss held my hand and kissed me on the cheek. Then she smiled a little. "Pretend we're back in the Capitol doing an interview with Caesar, it'll be fine."

"This wasn't exactly the kind of roleplay I had in mind…anyway, shall we face them together then?"

Katniss nodded and we both approached the door. The sound of hammering had conspicuously stopped, and I could hear no voices. But I just knew that they were waiting, pretending to have left and waiting for us to check. One of them was probably lying on the floor waiting with a doorstopper. Believe me; you don't know the lengths to which a reporter will go to get a story until you become famous.

"Hey, please don't insult our intelligence, we know you lot are still there," said Katniss. "This train is state of the art; there's even a peephole in the door! I'm hoping you actually saw that and weren't dumb enough to miss it."

There were a series of disgruntled groans from the other side and, internally, from me. For the first time a clear, male voice responded. "Look, Mr. and Mrs. Mellark, we're just doing our jobs…I know it's really inconvenient, but like you said, we only want a quick interview, maybe a few photographs…sorry for eavesdropping. Evidently the company hasn't made the leap to soundproof rooms yet."

"What's your name?" asked Katniss, "are you from a newspaper?"

"Yes," replied another voice, this one female and high-pitched. "I'm Sana the photographer, and the guy you just spoke to is John Williams, you might have heard of him."

I certainly hadn't. _John Williams? _I'd have remembered a name like that.

"And we're from _The Panem Star._ In fact, just last week we conducted an interview with Gale-"

"Shut up!" the first man hissed, but it was too late by then.

"That was you, was it?" I snapped. "_The Panem Star? _Well, I didn't like the spin you put on that interview with Gale. Why would I talk to the people who described me as a "lesser man" compared to him?"

"Erm…" Williams seemed to be struggling to find a decent answer to my question. "That's just what we do in the media. You have to remember that we always put positive spin on the people we interview. And anyway, as I recall, you were described as a _seemingly_ lesser man. So now, give us a chance to prove that you're not!" His voice was falsely bright, and I didn't trust it. I wondered whether Katniss would agree to try to get them to just go away.

"Look, Mr. Williams, Peeta's right. I don't think that-"

"We'll pay you-"

"Don't need your money. Sorry, but we really have to insist that you leave, or we'll call security. Or whatever."

"Wait!" John Williams shouted, "I've got a better deal. Will you hear me out?"

"I don't see what-"

"Please. Look, I shouldn't be saying this, but there's a massive media circus waiting for you in District 12."

"What?" Katniss and I cried in unison.

"Look, I shouldn't be saying this but word has it that there are dozens of reporters who will be clamouring for an interview…hence why we actually got on the train. Anyway, some of them have been camping out at the station for days."

I was genuinely amazed, though on reflection it wasn't all that surprising, given how famous we'd become. "But how could they know where we went or whatever. The honeymoon was a big secret."

"The wedding was _supposed _to be a big secret too," Katniss reminded me darkly, "looks like that went down the drain."

Williams continued, "The point is, if you're willing to grant me an interview, I'll call up my contacts at the other newspapers and put them on a false trail. I'll tell them that you've had to postpone your return, or that you're going somewhere else; anything you want. How's that for a plan? Then, you can return to your home with a minimum of fuss when we land in District 12."

Katniss and I looked at each other. Both of knew full well that there was absolutely no way to guarantee that Williams would keep his end of the bargain after the interview.

"OK," I said, "but why don't you call ahead first before we do this interview? Then we can trust you."

Williams sighed impatiently, "Fine. But could you at least let us in first? It's getting a bit uncomfortable standing out here."

"Yes, but no cameras, OK?"

"Deal."

Katniss paused for a moment before finally relenting and opening the door, ushering them quickly into the room. She quickly slammed the door behind them, as though afraid that some others would appear out of thin air. "Let's get this over with."

Katniss and I automatically arranged ourselves in a loving pose on the edge of the bed, our hands entwined, just as we'd been trained to do. Of course, it didn't matter anymore but it was actually a pose that suited us quite well these days. We faced our public; Katniss defiant and I smiling serenely.

The crew actually only consisted of three people; it had seemed rather more when I was half-naked and startled. There was John Williams, who turned out to be a rather ordinary man of about fifty; his only Capitol-esque feature was the streak of electric blue running through his black hair.

The photographer, Sana, was very typical example of a young woman in the Capitol media. Very smiley, she was dressed completely in silver, including her makeup. She held her camera up in the air, as though in forfeit. "Don't worry; no photos unless you say so!"

The third member of the team was an awkward, very young man who was easily a couple of years younger than me. Williams noticed me glancing at him. "This is Mikaya, he's just a rookie who's working with me for a few weeks. Imagine his delight when he found out we'd be interviewing you two!"  
>Mikaya remained stone-faced.<p>

"He's very shy," Sana explained quickly, leaving me wondering why exactly he had chosen this form of journalism as a career. "Anyway, shall we begin?"

"Hold on," Katniss snapped, "you guys said-"

"Oh, alright," Williams took out his phone and made a quick call. With the speed of a skilled veteran, his entire demeanour changed at once. "Filley?" he gasped excitedly, "You'd better shut up a minute because I have MAJOR news on the Mellarks. They've cottoned on to the media camp and are heading back LATER to avoid the rush. They're getting back by ROAD, and should be arriving in District 12 in at least a week. I spoke to the people in the hotel where they're staying just now and they're still there, so there's no point in sticking around in that dump District 12. You'd be better off catching the train to District 4. What? No, I didn't get to speak to them you know what Katniss is like…yeah I did see them, only briefly. Er…I would say at least 165 pounds. No, that's actually quite chubby for his height. Nah, being married only makes it worse. Sorry about that, HAHA. Bye sweetie." He slid his phone away, and turned to me as my insides boiled in anger.

"What are you looking at me like that for? It had to be convincing. And anyway, my associates are all decamping, judging by what Filley said, so you could at least be grateful to me."

"How do we know that wasn't all a complete bluff?"

"Please, what's in it for me if the other papers get a scoop on you? Then nobody would read mine."

I rolled my eyes. "OK, thank you very much. Shall we get on then?"

"Can I take a seat?"

"Absolutely."

Williams took out what was presumably a recording device and laid it on the desk, turning to us with a large grin. Sana and Mikaya lingered in the corner of the room. "So, Mr. and Mrs. Mellark. How does it feel to be addressed like this?"

Katniss spoke first. "Well obviously it's a huge delight. Peeta and I couldn't wait to get married."

"How lovely. And so far, is everything going as you'd expected?"

I wondered whether this was a joke. "Not exactly, no…"

Williams laughed. "Apart from this interruption, naturally."

"Well…we haven't been married long, but the honeymoon was a great success."

Sana failed to suppress a snort of laughter in the corner. "I think we could all see that."

I blushed again. "Well, er…that wasn't what it looked like."

"Oh, ignore her," Williams waved a hand, "she's just the photographer; whatever she says won't make it to print. Anyhow, you say your honeymoon was a success, could you tell me a little bit about that?"

"Well-"

"That's a bit private," Katniss cut across, "sorry, but I don't really want to go into detail about that."

Sana sniggered again. What a childish innuendo-ridden mind she must have had.

"That's absolutely fine," Williams replied through gritted teeth. "How about your plans when you get back to District 12?"

Silence.

Williams sighed. "Was barely worth the rail tickets…fine. How about you talk to us a little bit about your feelings about Panem post-revolution?"

I felt Katniss instantly relax. This was something we could talk at length about. "Well," I began, "I'm really quite worried about all these riots that seem to be going on. Evidently there's still a lot of unrest in the country, but hopefully they'll settle down soon."

"I think that the government still isn't being radical enough," said Katniss. "I believe that the wealth gap needs to be reduced and the money redistributed throughout the country. That's what's making people so unhappy, still."

Williams nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm, I suppose you have a good point. But what about all the people who grew up in the Capitol? Do you think that maybe they should be given more time to adjust to the new way of things. Without being too insensitive, I hope you both realise that, in a way, we were just as manipulated by the people in power as you were?"

"I hardly think so," Katniss retorted, "I do agree that the way the government behaved was not your fault, but you've had several years to 'adjust' now. Think about what everyone else in Panem had to go through."

"Look," I interjected, not wanting to create an argument, "I think we can all agree that we were never going to be living in a paradise. But you have to admit, things are much better now than they've been for over a century."

"Yeah well," murmured Sana in the corner, "I still think that the Hunger Games with the Capitol children was completely evil and unnecessary. What did they do to deserve that?"

"That wasn't my decision," I replied, honestly. Katniss became quite tense next to me.

There was silence for a moment before Williams resumed his questions. "OK then, how about District 12 itself? How is everything faring at home?"

"Well it couldn't have got much worse," I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "I think that everything is going quite well actually. There's a lot more money in District 12 now that people are able to migrate and form businesses and stuff."

"Will you two continue to live in the Victor's Village?"

"We're not sure yet. We'll see about that when we get back."

"I see…well, is there anything you'd like to, you know, put out there? Do you want to set the record straight on anything?"

I looked at Katniss, who shook her head. "No, I don't think so. So, are we done here?"

Williams frowned in annoyance. "Well, it looks a little bit like we are. Honestly, I don't see the need to clam up about everything. Your fans are just interested in how you're doing, right guys?" Sana nodded readily and Mikaya just shrugged his shoulders, as though he couldn't be less interested.

"Mikaya, could you be less interested?" Williams turned on his intern, "I've given you this golden opportunity to meet some genuine stars and you just stand there. Just because you've had your tongue cut out doesn't mean you can't be nice."

Katniss and I both jumped a little in shock. An avox? We glanced at each other fearfully, and then at Mikaya, who noticed and frowned a little at our reaction. He opened his mouth to display his lack of a tongue as proof to us, which was really more than I'd have liked to see.

"How did that happen?" I asked, trying to sound quite casual and failing miserably.

"A story for another day," Williams said, abruptly ending the conversation. "Now, I suppose you want us to leave you alone?"

"Yes please," said Katniss, "I mean, we are on our honeymoon, you know how it is."

"Of course," Williams approached us, kissed Katniss on both cheeks and shook my hand. Mikaya did the same, minus the kissing. "But don't think you've seen the last of me," Williams winked, before leaving the room with Mikaya in tow.  
>"Oh joy…" mumbled Katniss.<p>

"Can I get a picture?" asked Sana sweetly, "Just one?"

"Sure," I beamed, glad that they were finally leaving, "what would you like us to do?"

"Well," Sana said, jostling Mikaya and Williams out of the way, "next to the window would be nice, to get a bit of natural light."

We shimmied along the bed, and smiled for the camera. Sana actually took quite a few, but I didn't mind being photographed at all. I could feel Katniss' patience wearing a little thin.

"You said you were only going to take one," she said.

Sana looked affronted, but put her camera back in her handbag. "Well, at least your husband seems to be enjoying it. You're a natural, Peeta. These photos are going to come out so well; it's such a joy to be able to take photos and not have to edit them later. Well, of you anyway. Since I'm here, could I get your autograph?"

"Sure," I said, "do you have a pen?"

Sana produced a biro and a photograph from her bag. The photo was of her clutching a toddler who I assumed to be her son. "Is this your little boy?" I asked.

"Yes," she beamed, "this is Finnick. Finnick Odair was my biggest crush at school and our district hero," she explained. "It's a lovely name, don't you think?"

"Yeah," I replied, quite surprised. "District 4?"

"Yes, I moved to the Capitol a few years ago."

"Oh…well, that's nice. What would you like me to write?"

"Just put: Dear Sana and Finnick, best wishes, love Peeta Mellark. And a few kisses."

"What about me?" interrupted Katniss, evidently slightly annoyed.

Sana looked quite embarrassed. "Well, you can put your name on too, I guess. I thought you didn't like being famous?"

"I don't…"

Katniss and I signed our names and bade Sana farewell. She tottered over to the door and was about to close it when she popped her head back in. "Oh, and Katniss…I'll edit out the massive lovebite, don't worry. See you later!" She slammed the door behind her, bustling after her coworkers.

Katniss dashed over to the mirror and put a hand to her neck. She turned to me, her eyes ablaze. "Peeta…"

"I, erm, thought it was a bruise…it looks nice. You can give me one if you like."

* * *

><p>We arrived back in District 12 several hours later, the familiar mountains rolling into view. I have to admit, I felt quite excited to be back. I began packing my things into the suitcase, suddenly relieved that I hadn't let slip to Sana about the fire costumes that I'd had recreated. Katniss was on the other side of the room, being very quiet. I hoped that she wasn't mad at me anymore.<p>

"Thank God that's over," she said huffily.

I suppose not.

"Are your cases all packed?" I asked her.

"Yeah, might have to steal some of that shampoo in the bathroom though, it looks great." She went into the bathroom and emerged seconds later stuffing various creams into her handbag. "What? They would just get thrown out otherwise. They want us to use them."

We waited in silence until the station came into view. "So who's meeting us there?"

"Let's just hope it's not dozens of fans and reporters," she replied, "But I asked Haymitch to meet us there with a car. We're bang on time, so he should be waiting for us now."

"Does he even have a car?"

"He does have one, but he's usually too drunk to drive it."

"And today will be an exception."

"Yes. Well, he'll probably have ordered us a driver actually," she said as an afterthought. "I'm looking forward to seeing him, are you?"

"Yeah."

We left our room in a reasonably clean state and disembarked the train after it had rolled to a gentle stop. To my relief, the platform was almost completely empty, save for the family of those who got off the train with us. It looked as though Williams had kept his word. Unless, of course, there had never been any 'media circus' to begin with. Everyone getting off the train gaped in astonishment as we made our way down the platform; they'd been on a train with the Mellarks and they hadn't even known it!

The air in District 12 is different, I feel. You don't get the sea breeze that you do in District 4 but at the same time it's so…earthy and natural. Of course, I didn't really appreciate it before, because life was so hard back then. I suppose living in the Victor's Village and not having to worry about going hungry was what really gave me the luxury to notice things like the air quality.

We made our way to the entrance, and sure enough, whispers started to follow, and I began to get quite self-conscious. Katniss, of course, hated these kinds of situations so stared straight ahead and acted as though she couldn't hear anything. We sat down on a bench and watched the cars come and go, waiting for our own. The station wasn't exactly a large place, but there were at least a couple of cafes. Katniss seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me.

"Would you like me to go and get you something? I feel like I need a coffee. You know, for someone who's done next to nothing all day I'm exhausted."

"Hmm…yeah, I'll have a coffee too, thanks."

"And a snack?"

She didn't even need an answer. She went back into the building and left her cases with me out the front. The train station wasn't really near any buildings, and was fairly high in the hills, giving me a good view of the surrounding area. I really was happy to be back.

There were a number of cars parked out the front, and I decided to survey them closely in case Haymitch had fallen asleep in one of them while waiting for us, but I couldn't see him anywhere. Katniss soon returned with food and drinks.

"Any sign?" she asked, handing me a cup of coffee and a jam doughnut.

"No, do you think he's forgotten?"

No sooner were the words out of my mouth than a flashy midnight blue saloon with tinted windows rolled into view through the gate, veering across the car park at a dangerous speed. One handbrake turn later and it was parked directly opposite us, the engine still running.

"Well, so much for making a discreet exit," Katniss said having noticed the crowd of people who had turned around to see who it was driving at such a ridiculous pace. However, Katniss was clearly too happy to be annoyed, and dropped her bags to greet our man. "I just hope he's being reckless and not driving under the influence," she said rather optimistically.

But it wasn't Haymitch. The door opened and our driver stepped out and my heart sank.

"Katniss!" exclaimed Gale, who enveloped her into a hug, much to her surprise. "And Peeta, how are you doing?"

He couldn't have looked more smug if he'd tried. Our eyes met and we were both clearly thinking about the telephone call. He smiled a little as he approached me with Katniss to help pile the bags into the car. He reached out his hand, "So, you had a good time while you two were away?"

"Where's Haymitch?"

"Nice to see you too. Haymitch is busy at the moment so asked me to come and pick you up. Now," he turned to Katniss as he picked up her suitcase, "is that the remains of a squashed tracker jacker on your neck, or…?"

Katniss flushed scarlet; it seemed like she'd forgotten about it. "Let's just get in the car, shall we? We'll have plenty of time to chat later."

We dumped all our stuff in the back.

"Shotgun!" I cried, opening the front door and climbing in next to Gale. I was struck by just how flash this car was. The leather upholstery, the gadgets…and so much legroom. "Where did you get this car?" I asked, not even bothering to pretend I wasn't impressed.

"You mean how did I afford it?" Gale laughed, revving the engine. "Well, I had a great job didn't I? Everyone's driving these things nowadays. Even Haymitch is thinking about getting one, because there's a minibar in the back."

"And to think," said Katniss as we began to drive away, "that you sold all that rubbish to the magazine about getting back to your roots."

"Yeah!" I exclaimed, suddenly remembering, "and what was all this about the new show that you're doing?"

"So you saw my interview? Yeah, I regret doing that a little bit. I felt like a total sell-out after I read it, but at least this new show's getting a lot of publicity, and helping out these kids is really something I feel passionately about."

"Well just be sure that you're alive to do the show," said Katniss, "you shouldn't be driving so fast." We were rocketing down through the hills, and I was a little bit concerned that we were way over the speed limit, but I was enjoying the ride far too much. I'd never gone this fast in a car before.

"Oh, OK. Anything to make you feel safe, Catnip."

I looked in the rear view mirror and Katniss rolled her eyes, but looked quite pleased that he'd used her old nickname nonetheless. I was a little irritated, but then remembered the influence that he had over Katniss. I thought then that maybe being roped into his new show might actually bring Katniss round to having children if she worked with lots of kids. So for now, Gale could flirt with Katniss as much as he wanted as far as I was concerned.

"So Gale, you mentioned in the interview that you were expecting some assistance on this show?"

"Oh yes. Well, the truth is that the network feels that the show will do better if you two feature on it at some point. I mean, I'm famous too, but I've never competed in the Hunger Games. They'll want lots of information about the training that goes on for the tributes," he explained. "Besides, I thought it would be a nice favour that you could do for me, since friends stick together and all that. On that note, Katniss, I was wondering whether you wanted to come hunting with me at some point?"

"Really? Well, yeah sure."

"Can I come?" I asked, suddenly recognising this as my cue to chip in. "It's just that I've never been hunting before and Katniss is always telling me how much fun it is. Of course, I wouldn't want to interfere-"

"Oh, don't be like that," Gale patted my shoulder, "Course you can come. It'll be like old times when we were training for the rebellion."

I doubted that, but I did feel a bizarre sense of inclusion, as though I were being accepted into the popular gang. The conversation died down as we left the hills and moved into the residential areas. It was true what I'd said to the reporters; District 12 was developing well. Gone were the old dilapidated houses, replaced with larger, sturdier buildings. The children running round the streets were properly clothed and clean, and people did not back away at the sight of an expensive car as they might have done a few years ago.

We reached the Village but Gale instead parked outside Haymitch's house. "Why are you dropping us off here?" I asked, "I'm sure Haymitch can come over to our house if he wants to see us. We need to get all our things packed away."

Gale smiled. "Well, Haymitch really wants to see you. I'll drive up and park outside your house and come down to Haymitch's in a minute."

Katniss and I exchanged suspicious glances. "Why, what does Haymitch want?"

"You'll see."

We got out of the car and knocked on Haymitch's front door. "Come in!" Haymitch called out. We opened the door and entered to find Haymitch coming down the stairs, clutching a bottle of champagne. He actually looked quite dapper in a green suit, his hair combed and clean shaven. He looked completely thrilled to see us. "How are my two favourite tributes?"

Both of us ran to him and put our arms round him. "Good to see you Haymitch," Katniss said as she pulled away. She surveyed his appearance. "I have to say, you look almost completely clean. What's got into you? Gale was quite mysterious when he dropped us off."

"Let's go into the living room," suggested Haymitch, "where we can look at all your photographs over a nice drink that I bought just for the occasion," he lifted his champagne bottle, and led us down the hallway. "Also, we have a guest, so I want you to on your best behaviour."

"Who-"

I began to ask, but my question was answered when I we entered Haymitch's unusually immaculate front room to find a blonde woman in a bright pink dress sitting on the sofa. I didn't immediately recognise her until Katniss spoke up; she looked so normal.  
>"Effie!"<p>

"Oh, Katniss, it's so wonderful to see you again!" Effie Trinket stood up and kissed Katniss on each cheek and repeated for me. No impromptu hugging for this lady; manners were important after all.

"Will someone please get me some glasses?" Haymitch said impatiently. Effie briefly scuttled out of the room and returned with four champagne glasses.

"Oh, Gale's coming over in a minute," I remembered, "We might need five."

"That's OK Peeta, I'm not drinking," said Haymitch. "I'm on a new health kick."

There was a pause, and then all four of us burst out laughing. "You got me…not really," said Haymitch, pouring his own glass first.

"Haymitch! Our guests should be the first ones to-!" Effie was outraged.

"Effie, I haven't had a drink all day!"

"Fine," Effie rolled her eyes, "No, _I'm _the one not drinking," she said before exchanging a sly glance with Haymitch.

Oh no. I got a horrific jolting feeling in my stomach. Katniss too, abruptly stopped pouring her drink and looked from Effie to Haymitch, in the vain hope that her initial thought wasn't true.

Effie had grown closer to Haymitch ever since the rebellion. It seemed that she had been more or less disowned by her family when they discovered that she'd been involved. But the idea that the two of them were actually _together _was…no, it couldn't be. But Haymitch went to clasp Effie's hand. This had to be a surreal dream. But it wasn't.

"I know it's terribly bad manners not to participate in a toast, and as I'm sure you're aware, I don't abstain from alcohol unless for a very good reason…"

Katniss started laughing. "You're not telling me-"

"That's right!" said Haymitch, planting a kiss on Effie's cheek. "You two are so naïve. Yes, that's right. It might be the permanent intoxication, but Effie and I have decided to make a go of it. We're together, as crazy as it seems."

"WHAT?"

Katniss and I were both quite appalled. "But…you're Haymitch and Effie!" I cried stupidly, "I don't…I can't believe it!"

"Well, we didn't plan it either…" Effie said, evidently disappointed with my reaction, "but now we are together…we're quite happy. I feel we bring out the best in one another. Look, Haymitch isn't even drinking straight from the bottle!"

"And she's not wearing all that ridiculous Capitol crap!" They both started laughing.

"You can't just be together because of a baby!" said Katniss.

"Baby?" Effie and Haymitch looked at one another for a moment before bursting into hysterics. "No, no…" Effie giggled, "I'm on anxiety-medication, that's all! So I can't drink."

I heaved a sigh of relief. "So you're not pregnant?"

Effie looked affronted now. "How stupid do you think we are? I'm not some seventeen-year old bimbo!"

"And I know how contraception works!" laughed Haymitch. "Good God…can you really imagine me as a father?" I didn't immediately notice it, but his smile faltered, ever so slightly.

I laughed, "With your combined genes, the child would be completely demented!"

"Too far, Peeta."

"Sorry."

Haymitch raised his glass. "Now, I propose a toast. To the four of us, and any children that may be born to _any_ of us." He and Effie both gave Katniss and me a knowing look, which I found unnerving.

"And," Effie continued, giving an ironic laugh, "May the odds be _ever_ in our favour!"

Katniss drained her champagne glass in one and poured another. How nice it was to return to normality…


	5. The Hungover and the Hunter

The next morning wasn't a great one for me.

I was up at around 6AM, staggering along the hallway to the bathroom feeling strangely like someone who had just survived a blow to the gut with a mallet. I retched and chundered into the toilet as discreetly as I possibly could, wondering what I'd done to deserve this.

With a mammoth effort, I stood up and looked in the mirror; it wasn't a pretty sight. My face was completely grey, my eyes bloodshot and vague. I also noticed quite a lot of saliva dripping down my chin, though I was too ill to care about that. I tried to remember the events of the night before.

Haymitch couldn't just leave it at one glass of champagne. Of course, he'd had an entire crate of wine ready for the occasion, having been too cheap to buy multiple bottles of champagne that we 'wouldn't even appreciate'. And when someone goes to all that effort, what can you do? Well, you can always stop after a few glasses but it looks a bit lame when nobody else is. Plus, Gale had joined us, and I hadn't wanted to look like a lightweight in front of him. The actual antics remained a bit of a hazy mystery for the moment.

I decided to go downstairs and get breakfast to try to settle the rumbling in my stomach. No sooner had I bitten into a slice of toast, however, that I had to rush over to the sink and bring it back up. I sat down at the kitchen table, head in my hands, wallowing in self-pity. After a few minutes I forced myself up and over to the medicine cabinet. Hmm, what could I take? Paracetamol, aspirin, ibuprofen…there were so many possibilities.

I really couldn't have cared less, so I just took two paracetamol with a glass of water. I staggered into the living room and lay on the sofa, grateful that I didn't have to do anything today.

"Peeta?" Katniss called from upstairs, "Are you down there?"

I winced at the sound of her voice. "Y-yeah," I replied, a single syllable causing a sharp stab of pain. "I'm just sleeping."

I heard her coming downstairs. I groaned, wishing she'd just stayed in bed. She appeared in the doorway and looked at me, a mixture of pity and amusement on her face. "And I thought I was feeling bad; you look awful."

"I feel awful. Why does Haymitch do this to us, haven't we suffered enough?"

"Move up, I want to lie next to you. Thanks. Anyway, what was I going to say? Oh yeah. Do you remember the time when we were first at the Capitol and I got drunk of that tiny amount of wine?"

"Yeah…"

Katniss evidently sensed my impatience. "Alright grumpy, I was only trying to be friendly. Should I put the T.V. on? That might take your mind off it a bit."

"No, I'm too tired and I want to go to bed…"

"OK then, how about I bring a blanket down and I make you some hot chocolate? I know I don't make it to your standard, but…"

"No, that sounds nice. I like that idea."

"Good, I'll bring your phone back down in case any of your friends want to call you to ask about the honeymoon. I've had almost a dozen since we got back."

"Yeah well, women are like that…all soppy and stuff. Yes, I know, I'm joking."

"Glad to see you're still trying to be funny. You must be recovering quite well; maybe you should make the hot chocolate."

"Ohhhh…my head! It hurts and I feel sick!"

Katniss laughed. "I'm going, I'm going…" she kissed me on the forehead. Then I fell into a deep sleep.

By the time I woke up, I was covered in a dark blue quilt and my head encased in such a soft pillow that I felt I might sink into it. I blinked myself from drowsiness and saw Katniss sitting opposite me, smiling.

"I was wondering when you'd get up and face the day."

"I was so tired…what time is it?"

"It's gone noon."

I was astonished. I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept in that late. "Well…I feel a lot better anyway, even though I never got my hot chocolate…"

"There'll be plenty of time for that once lunch is ready," came a familiar voice from the hallway. It should really have surprised me that he was here, but for some reason it didn't. He seemed to be everywhere in my life now.

Gale's head bobbed around the door. "My, my…sleeping on the sofa already. What a way to start a marriage." He and Katniss snickered, and I felt embarrassed when I remembered that I wasn't dressed properly. He quickly left, apparently attending to something in the kitchen.

"Uhh…Katniss, what's he doing here?"

Katniss looked at me in a slightly irritated way. "I invited him over, is that alright?"

"How would you feel if I invited a girl over when you were on the sofa hungover after a night out?" I fired back defiantly.

She looked surprised, and then sheepish. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry. Anyway, Gale's making us a meal. Apparently he's developing some culinary skills for his new show."

"Oh, really?" I asked dryly, hauling myself out of "bed" and following Katniss into the kitchen. I caught the strong smell of beef as I walked in, along with a lot of spices I wasn't sure I recognised. "What are we having then?" I asked Gale, who was tending to the stove arduously.

"Spaghetti Bolognese."

"Smells nice, what is it?" I was genuinely curious, so I went over to the pots and pans to see what was cooking. As I thought, it was beef, or mince, in spicy tomato sauce. I'm more of a baking man myself, so I'd never seen made it before. "Did you make the sauce yourself?"

Gale laughed. "Yeah, right. It came out of a jar." He pointed to the empty jar which he'd casually left on the side. After a few minutes he served his dish and we all sat down at the kitchen table to eat. We have a large dining room with a grand mahogany table, but we don't really use that.

"So," Gale started the conversation off, "What do you think, Peeta?"

"It's very nice actually," I replied. I felt that the sauce was overpowering the mince a little bit, but other wise I was being truthful.

"Yeah," agreed Katniss between mouthfuls, "very tasty." She turned to me, "Are you feeling better now?"

"Mmm…" I was feeling quite a lot better; the food was doing me good. "So what are we doing this afternoon?" I was deliberately addressing Katniss, not feeling too comfortable with Gale evidently worming his way into Katniss' affections.

"Well," said Gale, "I was thinking we could head out to the woods at about two-thirty and-"

"Wait a minute!" I interrupted anxiously, "We can't be going hunting today!"

"Why not?"

"Come on Peeta, it's a good idea." Katniss rubbed my hand, "You've always said to me how you wished you could hunt."

"Yeah but…" I struggled to think of a reasonable excuse. The thing was, I _did _want to learn how to hunt and do more "manly" things, but I was worried about screwing up in front of Katniss. I also resented the fact that Gale seemed to be learning how to cook and become domesticated without any help from me.

"I know what this is about," said Gale decisively.

"Do you?"

Yeah…don't worry Peeta; you didn't think I wouldn't get you a wedding present, did you?" He smirked.

I was completely nonplussed. "I don't know what you mean."

"Wait here," he got up and went into the hallway. I looked quizzically at Katniss, but she just looked amused.

"Here," Gale returned and tossed a bulky brown parcel at me. "Go and try these on. I ordered them especially."

"Try them on..?"

"It's your new hunting gear. I figured you wouldn't want to head into the woods wearing a pile of rags."

"Oh, thanks." I cautiously opened my present, possibly afraid that it might be some kind of practical joke present that might jump out at me. But it wasn't. I laid out my new outfit on the table, seeing a white shirt, tight brown jacket and trousers. I dug further into the parcel wrapping to dig out my footwear, a pair of brown leather boots with silver buckles. It all looked very expensive.

"Oh, Gale…this is too much." I had never had anything like this bought for me, and was genuinely extremely grateful. "I'd never have expected you to pay for-"

He laughed, "Don't worry about it. And you don't have to worry about the size; Katniss gave me all your details. 40 inch waist, right?"

"Ye- what?"

Both Gale and Katniss burst out laughing. "This is partly why I wanted you to put on weight," joked Katniss, "in case I got your size wrong. Anyway, are you going to try it on?"

"Yeah, of course."

I took it into the front room and quickly stripped off, catching a strong whiff of my own sweat in the process. I…thought I should probably take a shower first.

"You could have been going hunting all your life!"

"Yeah Peeta," agreed Gale, "very strapping."

I have to admit, in addition to feeling appropriately dressed for what seemed to be my induction into a secret hunting society; I did think I looked quite sexy when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It fitted perfectly. My headache seemed to have completely subsided as I prepared for my afternoon out.

Katniss and Gale had changed into their hunting gear too, and also had their bows and arrows at the ready.

"Well then, let's get going!"

* * *

><p>We left the house and piled into Gale's car for the second time in two days. This would be quite enough for me, I decided.<p>

"I feel like I'm cheating by driving to the woods," said Katniss, "I know we're going a little more out of the way this time, but still."

"Well, we couldn't risk being seen by potential autograph hunters," Gale pointed out, "and these badass tinted windows put a stop to that. Besides, I don't think that my public could handle seeing my in my hunting gear again after _that _photoshoot."

Katniss and I both laughed. "Nonetheless," I said, "I'm pretty sure everyone around here knows who this car belongs to by now."

"Well…true."

We drove out in the direction of the train station, but made a right turn so that we headed down the mountainside. I had never been anywhere around here before. I'd expected us to park somewhere by the side of the road and then head off that way, but Gale continued to drive and took many turns until the road turned narrow and rocky.

"Hey Gale," asked Katniss, who seemed to be thinking along the same lines, "is the car safe on these roads? I mean, there's no way to turn round and it's not exactly designed for the open terrain is it?"

Gale smiled smugly, "Don't worry, it's got 4x4 mode."

"It does not!" I cried in disbelief.

"It does! I already explained this to you, it's state-of-the art."

Katniss laughed but didn't say anything, smiling to herself.

"What is it?" Gale asked.

"It's just…remember when we _had_ to do this? Go hunting I mean. Actually having to walk into the woods with a makeshift bow and-" she laughed again, apparently stunned by the absurdity of it. I continued to gaze out the window and pretended not to listen; this conversation was nothing to do with me.

"Do you think that there'll be any deer out? I haven't hunted a deer in so long." Katniss sounded rather bloodthirsty. I have to admit, I was quite surprised at her eagerness, and not really in a good way.

"I'll bet there are," said Gale, "and even if there aren't, we can still bag some rabbits. We'll even have to cook them; can you remember what that's like?"

"Yeah. I've got to say, the Capitol's food is very good, but there's nothing like eating a freshly roasted animal you've worked so hard to get. Right Peeta?"

"Mmm. Well I don't really know, as I haven't been hunting before."

"I was talking more about the Capitol's food really, Peeta. I was just telling Gale about it. Do you remember the pheasant? I think that was my favourite."

"Yeah. So are we nearly there yet?" I really didn't feel like talking about our time in the Hunger Games.

"Well, we can park up here if you want. There's plenty of space on either side of the road."

"Yeah, sounds good," said Katniss, recognising my brush-off, "We'll need to walk a little distance anyway; the noise of the engine will have scared off the animals. I bet they aren't used to seeing a car, especially not one with 4x4 mode."

We all got out of the car and stood quietly, listening for any wildlife. It was gorgeous in the woods. We'd travelled right to the heart, where the forestry was dense and the grasses long and unspoiled. I wasn't really accustomed to nature that much; my only real experience of the forest was during my time in the Games, and that wasn't even real. But as I listened to the sounds of the birds singing in the trees, I began to really appreciate for the first time why Katniss had loved coming here so much when she was younger. It must have beaten staying at home with a catatonic mother. I would have been quite content.

"Let's get some shooting done!"

Gale took the lead. We wandered through the trees without a word spoken between us. I hadn't been equipped with a bow or arrow; apparently Katniss and Gale didn't think I was ready to have my own yet. We proceeded for a few minutes before Gale stopped us a few metres before a small clearing.

"Look," he whispered, pointing at the grass ahead, "Rabbits. Get your bow ready, Catnip." He turned to me, "Here's your first-hand experience of how to get a rabbit."

"I've already seen what she can do with a squirrel."

Gale laughed. "Yeah…here it comes."

Katniss held her bow rigidly, her eyes transfixed upon the clearing where she knew her prey would appear. I hadn't seen her like this before. There must be some skills that are so inherent that you can never really lose your ability. The three of us waited with baited breath.

Suddenly it was there. It was a small, grey fluffy creature poking its head out with the intention of finding some grub. It looked up, surprised for a second, and then it was gone. Katniss sent her arrow swiftly into its head, killing it instantly. I was reminded of the squirrels.

"Excellent! Peeta would you mind carrying it, Katniss and I have our arms full."

"What, you mean you actually want to cook it?" I was genuinely surprised. "I thought that was a joke. You won't get much meat off that."

"Peeta," Katniss snapped, "Don't be facetious. Obviously we don't need the meat, we just want to do it for old times' sake. Anyway, you'd be the one cooking it, not either of us."

"Me? Why do I have to?"

"Well, cooking is your thing," Gale said, "isn't it? Or haven't you cooked an animal before?"

It was true that I had no particular desire to skin a rabbit and cook it when there was no real need, but that wasn't the point. I felt as though I were being ganged up on. "Well, OK, I'll cook it if you really want to, but I thought you'd want to since this thing was 'for old times' sake'".

"Alright Peeta," Katniss rounded on me, "Can I have a moment with you please? Alone?" She glanced purposefully over her shoulder at Gale.

"Oh, say no more, the married couple are having a domestic. I'll just, er…go and set some traps." He wandered off in the opposite direction.

"What's the matter with you? You've been acting strangely since we started driving here." Katniss glared at me. "You're embarrassing me and yourself. Gale went to all that trouble to buy you that outfit and you're not being friendly. This isn't like you, Peeta."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm sorry," I replied blankly.

Katniss peered at me curiously. "Oh, I get it. You're jealous aren't you? Of the fact that Gale and I have been doing this for years. Well, I've tried to include you, and you're just acting like a total brat."

I did feel quite ashamed of myself. Gale had been nothing but nice to me ever since we got back from our honeymoon. But maybe that was part of the problem. "I just feel like Gale is trying to worm his way into our lives," I confessed. "Don't you think it's weird for a married couple just coming back from their honeymoon to spend the day with the wife's ex-boyfriend?"

"How dare you?" Katniss hissed, glancing around to make sure Gale wasn't lurking nearby. "How many times do we have to go over this; Gale was never my boyfriend! And don't give me that face!"

"What face?"

"_The face._ It's not going to work anymore. Now, we're going to find Gale and I want you to be pleasant; I don't care what your problem is at the moment. We'll sort that out later. Now, get over there and act like you're talking to Caesar Flickerman. I want to see the birds charmed from the trees before we kill them!"

I laughed. I liked it when she called me charming. I bet Gale couldn't charm the Capitol audience like I always could. "OK, I'll give it a go. I'm not sure I'll be any good at it though…"

"At what?"

"Hunting."

Katniss smiled, "Look, there's no need to be nervous. We'll start with the easy stuff."

"What's that?"

She paused for thought. "I don't actually know. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Find something that plays to your strengths."

The trouble was that strength _was _my strength. I didn't have great hand-eye co-ordination, and weaponry had never been my thing. In all honestly, I couldn't really have given a damn about being a hunter for its own sake; I just wanted to beef up my image a bit. I wanted to become more like Gale, so that anything Katniss saw in him, she might also see in me. I was sick to death of being his polar opposite.

"You got this guy brilliantly." I held the dead rabbit up, feeling as though it were a trophy.

"Thanks. But you really shouldn't be surprised."

We set off, expecting Gale to be just around the corner, but he was nowhere to be seen. The trees were quite dense here, and we checked around the surrounding area with no luck. We tried calling out for him but he didn't respond. "Where could he be?" I wondered aloud. "We've only been separated two minutes."

"I don't know. Maybe he's got an animal near a trap somewhere nearby and doesn't want to make any noise."

"Makes sense."

We waited for a moment before calling out his name again. Once again, absolutely nothing. I figured he must be playing a prank; that would be just like him. Suddenly the woods didn't seem quite so pleasant anymore. Every sound just became a stark reminder that Katniss and I were in the middle of nowhere.

"Do you remember where the car was parked?"

Katniss shook her head. "I'm more worried about Gale, to be honest."

"Yeah, I know but…he's our ride out of here. If he's gone off somewhere then we're basically stuck. Unless you know where we are?"

She shook her head again. "No…but I think we should try retracing our steps. We've got to find the car pretty quickly. It sticks out like a sore thumb."

"It's got 4x4 mode…"

Katniss laughed bitterly. We wandered back the way we had come. But the trees all looked so familiar, and neither of us had really paid attention to the direction we'd been travelling, having expected to see Gale at any moment.

"OK, we have to stop now." Katniss said decisively. Or else we'll end up going round in circles. Let's just sit down and think rationally." She was steady, but the panic was beginning to creep into her voice. I put my arm around her. "It'll be alright. You're a born survivor and the woods are like your second home."

"Don't talk like that…you're scaring me."

"Sorry. Hey! Do you think we should build a fire? It's not like we're in the Hunger Games anymore. We could use an actual distress signal."

Katniss seemed to consider it. "I don't know. Is it really an emergency? We're probably just overreacting."

"I'm not so sure," a cold voice rang out of nowhere causing us both to jump. "There are some very dangerous people around."

We both leaped to our feet before we located the voice; it had come from right behind us. Katniss reached for her bow but just before she could grab it the piercing shot of a gun rang out, stopping her in her tracks. Yelping, she clutched onto my arm as I, unable to find my voice, turned around to face our foe.

A masked figure emerged from the trees, covered head to toe in black combat gear. His face was obscured with a balaclava, but I could tell that he was fairly young. In the first few seconds though, all I could register was the gun he was carrying, pointed straight at my wife's head.

"Wh-who are you?" I finally found my voice, though it was little more than a whimper. I clung to the vain hope that this was all a set-up. "Stop this; it isn't funny."

The only parts of his body that was visible were his eyes, and they glistened mad with excitement. He chuckled to himself. "You think this is a joke? Hah! I always thought you were a bit dumb…"

"OK, seriously, what do you want?" Katniss spoke sharply, but there was a slight quiver in her voice. I couldn't believe her bravery, in spite of the fact that she'd been in worse situations like this. "I don't understand."

The guy seemed to bristle slightly at her tenacity. Apparently his weapon hadn't had quite the effect he'd hoped for. "Well Katniss, I'm insulted. I point a gun at you and you don't even have the decency to look all that scared."

Katniss snarled. "Why would I be scared? I've faced a lot worse than you." She was seething with rage. "Now, I want you to answer my husband's questions." She linked her arm with mine for solidarity. "Who are you, and why are you doing this?"

He laughed again. "Do you really think I'm going to tell you my real name?"

"Does that mean you're only here to rob us or something?" I asked hopefully, "I mean, you can take what you want, but just don't hurt Katniss. If you were going to kill us, you wouldn't mind telling us your real name now, would you?"

He frowned again. "You're awfully stupid, Peeta. Do you really think that I'm going to track someone down in the woods with a gun just to steal from them? You can keep your money. Your blood money is all yours."

"What do you mean by that?" Katniss snapped.

He chuckled again. "Well, you only have the lifestyle you've got by murdering children. You've done alright out of the Hunger Games, haven't you, _Mockingjay?"_

Katniss and I both suddenly seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Look," she replied, panic rising in her voice, "We've only ever done what we've been made to do. That's all! If you're a relative of…Clove or Cato or whatever then I'm sorry but we had no choice! It's because of me that people don't have to do that anymore."

I decided I had to chime in. "She's right! I know…it must have been hard for you, but we've suffered more than anyone. Katniss wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"You're holding a dead rabbit by the ears."

"Yes…" I observed, "Well, uh, right. It was just an expression."

"Whatever," he sneered. "The point is that you're almost completely wrong. I find your ignorance quite astonishing. Did you really think that the world would just be alright after the revolution? That everyone would love the Mockingjay and her consort? You're deluded. I didn't plan out this thing for weeks for nothing. Do you know how hard it is to get your hands on one of these?" He brandished his pistol. "But it was worth it. I couldn't really take on the mighty Mockingjay and her legendary shooting skills with a bow and arrow, could I?"

"OK," Katniss began shakily, "so you didn't support the rebellion. So you want to kill us in revenge."

"Not exactly. Not both of you. Just you-"

"Katniss!"

It made me jump. It was Gale's voice, but it was far away. I'd completely forgotten about him. I wasn't sure in that instant whether or not to dare shout out his name, but Katniss beat me to it anyway.

"Gale!" she shrieked like I had never heard her shriek, "Gale! We're over here!"

"Shut up! It's not Gale; I dumped him in a ditch!" Our assailant hissed, "Just sit down and be quiet!" He trained the gun on Katniss again, and moved one further step towards her. Their eyes met, and for a second I was certain it was all over.

I will never forget what happened next. I don't know what came over me, but perhaps it was just part of an instinctive impulse to protect the person that I loved. Completely ignoring the gun in his hand, my right hand swept out, passed Katniss' face and struck Balaclava Guy in the face while he was focusing on Katniss.

He staggered back as his face spun round, quickly falling to his knees, before immediately getting up again. In the following couple of seconds I didn't have time to process what had just happened as Katniss grabbed my hand and dragged me to one side. We crashed through the nearest bushes as our attacker screamed behind us. We didn't have time to keep quiet; we just began to run as fast as we could. I barely registered the pain as branches cut my face and branches hit my shins. I kept a tight hold of Katniss' hand, feeling a sudden rush of adrenaline as I clasped slightly tighter. To my horror, a gunshot rang out behind us, causing me to inadvertently yelp. I expected further shots but none came. We carried on stumbling through the woods for another ten minutes, never stopping to look back once. I had no idea of the direction in which we were running. All I could tell was that the forest was getting thicker, and the sounds of leaves crunching and us panting seemed to be all that I could hear.

"Katniss!"

"What?"

"I think he's gone! I can't hear anything."

We stopped dead in our tracks to catch our breath, but maddeningly had to hold it in, listening intently for any sounds Save for the birds singing, the wind rustling through the trees, and my heart pounding out of my chest…there was nothing. Finally after almost a minute, we both exhaled deeply, hugging each other tightly. I could feel her shaking. There were a lot of questions unanswered, but I knew what she'd be thinking of right now. "What about Gale? What are we going to do?"

"I-I don't know."

We stood in silence for a few moments. "I need to sit down," I panted, "Or else I'm going to collapse." Some vague thought at the back of my mind was formulating a dieting and exercise routine as I did so. But I had more important things to be thinking about right now. It occurred to me that perhaps the shot that had been fired hadn't actually been a warning shot for us, but a bullet meant for Gale…

I couldn't say this to Katniss, obviously.

"Would you like a drink?" Katniss asked, "I've got a bottle in my satchel."

I hadn't realised how thirsty I was. I eagerly took the bottle from her and drained the contents in one. Water had never tasted so good. It was only then that I realised in how much pain my throat was, and how much my head had ached from dehydration. It was only when I finished the bottle that I realised Katniss might actually like some herself.

"Er…"

"Don't worry; I've got another one."

"Sorry."

Katniss sank down beside me. She put her head in her hands and after a moment's hesitation her restraint broke. She started sobbing uncontrollably, brushing me away when I tried to put my arm around her. "What did he do to him?" she cried between sobs, "He said that he'd dumped him in a ditch…what did that mean? But I heard his voice! I know it was him; you heard it too, right?" She looked at me desperately and I nodded, "Thank God…I'm not just going mad."

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't think of any way out of this situation beyond finding the car and trying to return home to report Gale's disappearance. Could we give a smoke signal? No, that would just alert that guy to our location, and he'd done a pretty good job of tracking us down without that. I wished he'd given a name, even a fake one. Not knowing anything about him made him seem less human.

"Come on," I said, "Let's get out of here. If we make sure to head in a straight line we have to reach the end of the woods eventually. And if we get lost…well, someone will report our disappearance."

"Who?" Katniss asked sceptically. "Effie and Haymitch? Like they'll bother to check in on us. Besides, I wouldn't want them too. We're supposed to be a madly in love couple who want to spend as much time alone as possible."

"Maybe…but let's not worry about that. There's no way that we're not getting out of here. Look…let's just go. The sooner we get out of here the sooner we find out what's happened to Gale."

This seemed to sway it for her. She nodded and stood up straight away. "So, which way are we…Peeta, look!" She craned her head upwards and pointed at the sky.

I realised that the area of the woods we'd found ourselves in was a slight decline. So, even though the woodland was so thick, I could still see what was, unmistakeably, a light smoke signal originating from some distance away.

My heart soared for a moment…until I realised.

"But Katniss, what if-?"

"It doesn't matter," she snapped, "It's something, and I don't care about the risk. If it is… _him_ then I guess we'll just have to be more careful this time." Her demeanour suddenly went very cold. "We've faced off worse than him before. I don't even think he would have actually killed us."

I couldn't be so sure about that myself.

"Who do you think he was?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I don't really want to find out." Then she smiled a little. "By the way, nice punch back there. You're such a hero these days."

I'd forgotten about that. I couldn't help feeling slightly elated, in spite of everything. "Thanks. You're right about Gale too. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to him and we did nothing."

She paused. "Yeah. Shall we?"

She looked so afraid. I decided that a bit of corny humour was in order. "Together?" I said, looking at her in the eyes and holding out my hand in a cup.

She blinked for a moment in confusion, and then laughed out loud. She batted my hand away. "Be quiet, you idiot."

I heeded her advice as we headed towards our signal. I realised that, if all went well, this would probably be the first time ever that I'd be happy to see Gale Hawthorne.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

Hey, sorry that this chapter has taken such a long time. I've been really busy with exams recently so haven't really had time to write it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, although it is a bit on the serious side.


	6. An Unsuccessful Evening

The smoke signal proved to be further away that it had looked, and we had to keep stopping to make sure it wasn't slipping out of view. Katniss and I kept close to one another throughout our journey. We didn't speak much, because of course we had to keep quiet to avoid running into our masked friend again; I had a feeling he might not be so careless or arrogant the second time round. It was all very surreal- and frightening- just as it had been during the Hunger Games. Eventually there came a point where I couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"Hey Katniss?"

"What?"

"We don't have any weapons. Shouldn't we at least have something to defend ourselves with instead of just barging in?"

Katniss considered. "Well, I do have some of my arrows, obviously. I just don't have the time to make a bow or anything like that."

"No, I was just thinking…never mind."

"No, go on," she said, "What did you have in mind?"

"Well…sticks or something."

"Club him to death like a baby seal, you mean?" She smirked, "I don't think the wood is thick enough, Peeta."

"I know, but something has to be better than nothing."

"Not necessarily. If we look weak, and we do meet that guy again he might not shoot at us." She paused. "But anyway, I'm fairly certain that it's Gale sending the signal, not him. Or it could be someone else."

"Imagine if it was someone having a barbeque."

"Odd place to have a barbeque, don't you think? In the middle of the woods."

"Well, maybe that was just wishful thinking," I admitted, "I'm starving; I didn't have time for breakfast this morning."

"This morning?" Katniss looked surprised, "Oh, right. I can't believe this is all still the same day," she sighed.

It was starting to get a little darker. The trees began to cast shadows, which wasn't particularly encouraging. But we were definitely getting quite close to our bait, at least. We stopped for a moment to look at the sky, and found that we had to crane our necks considerably in order to see the tip of the smoke. Suddenly I felt very afraid again.

"Hey Katniss," I whispered, "What do we do now?"

"Just look for any flickers of light, or listen for any wood burning." She held out her hand, which I took readily. We moved slowly closer to where we thought the origin of the signal was, and suddenly I caught a glimpse of it.

"There!" I hissed, "Right between the trees, can you see it?"

She squinted in the direction I was pointing. The trees were dense so I couldn't see any smoke, but between the leaves I did see a flash of light every couple of seconds. Katniss nodded, and leaned in to me, putting her hands onto my upper arms. I recognised this look; this was the look she got when she'd devised a plan.

"I think we should get just a little bit closer and then call out Gale's name."

I blinked in surprise. "How…elaborate."

"I'm serious. That's all we need to do. Whoever lit that fire doesn't know we're here, so we have the element of surprise, right?"

"Yeah, but…" I made sure to keep my voice extremely low, so that even Katniss had to partly lip read, "what if nothing happens? What if it's that guy again and he knows that we're not leaving here with nothing. He'll know that we'll come and investigate and then he'll jump on us."

Katniss' hopeful look vanished, "I suppose you're right. He's not just going to come out and try to chase us, is he?"

"Exactly. Look….I have a better idea. I'll go, and you wait here-"

"What?" Katniss gasped in protest, "No! We're both going. I'm not going to let you do this on your own." She grabbed my wrist and looked to the ground in what seemed to be shame, "You've already risked your life for me too many times. I'm the one who got us separated from Gale." She met my gaze again.

I remembered the look that she'd had when we'd been in that cave and she said that she wouldn't leave me. Her eyebrows were raised and she wouldn't drop her gaze. I knew that she was serious, and so there was no persuading her. I nodded in agreement.

"He could be badly hurt," Katniss said, referring to Gale, "Let's just go."

So we did. We crept forward as quietly as we could. I hoped that the sound of the flames crackling would obscure the crunching of leaves under our feet. I suddenly had a horrible memory of a similar situation I'd been in several years ago, again during the first Hunger Games. The Career Tributes and I had seen a fire burning in the woods shortly after I had joined them, so had gone to investigate. All the while I'd been praying that it wasn't Katniss who had made herself into such a sitting duck, and luckily it wasn't.

I can't really remember what the girl looked like or what her name was. I probably didn't know it, for that matter. I just recall that she was probably around my age and, like me, was not a natural survivor under those circumstances. She mustn't have heard us coming over the roar of her fire because I do remember the look on her face when she saw us- at least, when she saw Cato. Of course, she hadn't stood a chance, and didn't put up a great fight against him.

I…I didn't want to kill her. But I had to.

Anyway, the point is this: due to my past experience, in the present situation I reasoned that any sensible person who was forced into to create a smoke signal wouldn't actually stay right next to the fire they made, but rather hide near it behind the trees so that they could hopefully avoid any unwanted company. We drew closer to the fire. And closer. And closer. However, nobody and nothing appeared. We eventually reached the fire itself; cautiously stepping from behind the trees but certain that nobody was there.

"Gale?" Katniss called out as we approached the rather small fire. She darted round it several times looking around the nearby trees for any sign. I followed suit, checking out the areas which she turned her back on.

"Katniss!"

Both of us screamed, just a little. We actually ran into each other as both bolted in the other direction at the sound of the voice. But we didn't need to worry; after a few seconds of frantically looking around and heavy breathing we saw him. Gale was only a little way into the woods on our right, and I'd never been more relieved.

Of course, Katniss ran over to him immediately and threw her arms round his neck. I'm ashamed to say that I almost did the same thing myself.

"What happened?" Katniss cried, "You're covered in blood and-"

"Shhh…" Gale buried her head in his chest, "I'm fine; don't worry."

"Are your really OK?" I asked. "Do you have any idea what happened back there?"

He nodded. "I know, I know..." He actually looked extremely shaken, and I decided not to press any further. His face was chalk-white and, like Katniss said, he was covered in blood and grime. I guessed he'd got into a fight with the masked man. After about a minute of Katniss sobbing and Gale staring dead into space, I'd calmed down enough to get a realistic grasp on the situation now that the three of us were reunited. "Look…I don't want to rush you or anything, but the fact is that we're standing right at a smoke signal; we need to get out of here."

"It's alright," Gale replied, "I started it knowing that Katniss- that you both- would come looking for me. It's not him."

"I know it's not him!" I shouted, exasperated at Gale's apparent slowness, "but he could still be looking for us couldn't he? Anyone can see this signal Gale; you don't have to be a hunter."

Katniss turned around. Her face was still streaked with tears, but she looked more relieved than anxious. "Peeta's right. But where the hell are we? The woods are miles across; you know I've never been this far in, Gale."

Gale smiled a little. "I know that, Catnip. Listen, it's not going to be that difficult when you think about it. So long as we know which direction we came from- southeast- we can find our way back to the car by following the sun's movement. Basically, the sun sets in the west, so we just have to travel in the opposite direction."

"Well, let's get started then, I want to get away from here as soon as possible." I was the first to look up at the sky in the direction of the sunlight. It was slowly turning to dusk as we began our route. "It's a bit obscure though, don't you think? Travel southeast? I mean, it's a start and everything but the woods are miles across-"

"Yeah," Gale interrupted, "but it's all we've got so we should get on with it, don't you agree?"

We set out. For the most part, it was just trees, trees and more trees. We tried to avoid skirted round anything and stick to ploughing through the plants to make the straightest southeasterly path we could. As Gale pointed out, we probably hadn't actually come that far away from the car- it had just felt like it. Just like it felt like days since we'd had our last meal.

"Doesn't your car come with some sort of tracking device?" I asked, more snidely than I'd intended.

"Yes it does, but that was lost when I was ambushed by that freak with a gun!" Gale retorted. I felt ashamed.

"Sorry."

"It's alright. Let's talk about it when we get the hell out of here."

"What _did _happen, Gale?" Katniss whispered.

"Didn't you just hear me?" He snapped.

"Don't get at her, she's only concerned." I tried to sound defensive, but for some reason I was actually please he was annoyed with Katniss, so it didn't quite come out right. "It's not her fault."

"No, you're right. Actually, it's both of you. If you two could just sort your relationship out instead of having domestics every five minutes then we wouldn't be in this position right now." His voice had a hoarse quality that was trying not to crack. Gale wasn't emotive, so it was strange and unpleasant to hear him speak like this. We were silent for a moment, before he continued. "Anyway, are _you _alright?"

"Oh, I'm glad you asked," snarled Katniss, "after you heard us being shot at."

"Well, quite clearly, you haven't been shot," said Gale through gritted teeth. "It was just an expression, because you're clearly fine. You and your woman logic…I thought you were better than that, Katniss."

"Don't be ridiculous!" She shouted, "You know that's not what I meant."

"Well, it's not my job to talk to you and ask if you're feeling alright! That's not the relationship we have, Katniss. If you want people fawning over you then ask your husband. You've become such a…_girl _ever since you got married. I liked you better before."

The silence, as the saying goes, was deafening. None of us said anything to one another until we eventually got to the car, which wasn't much more than half an hour later. I felt an immense rush of relief; this nightmarish day was finally over. I decided I'd get back, have a bacon sandwich after which I'd immediately go to bed. Maybe I'd wake up and realise that this actually had all just been a bad dream. But I doubted it.

Gale circled the car as though checking to see if it had been vandalised. He crouched down at the back to look underneath; I felt embarrassed because I hadn't even thought to do that. Gale broke the silence by saying, "There's a bar of chocolate in the glove compartment. I guess you're both pretty hungry? I know I am." The three of us scrabbled at the packaging like wild animals, before demolishing the jumbo bar in a matter of seconds. "Right then," Gale continued, talking more to himself than either me or Katniss, "the car doesn't seem to be damaged in any way. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Gale wordlessly dropped us off at the end of our street. I didn't even have time to thank him when he sped off again, apparently as eager to get home as I was. Katniss and I trudged up the road. She stopped suddenly, a couple of houses before our own, as though she'd just remembered something.<p>

"What is it?"

"I'm going to tell Haymitch what's just happened," she replied, "I think if I go to sleep now I might forget parts of it. I want to know what he thinks we should do." She turned on her heel and crossed the road.

"Do you think he'll be in?" I asked.

Katniss shrugged, "I don't know. I don't see why not. We'll find out in a minute."

The lights in Haymitch's front room were indeed on. It really did come to something; I thought as Katniss darted up the steps and rang the bell, when _Haymitch _was the father figure in our lives. Well, he was pretty much the only father figure either of us had now. I supposed that Haymitch was probably drunk by now, but he couldn't possibly be too inebriated to understand our story, could he?

It was Effie who answered the door. She looked surprised to see us, but smiled politely nonetheless, "Hello dears, what are you doing-" her smile faltered. "Are you alright?" Her eyes widened as she looked us both over. We must have looked as awful as we felt, save for our apparent lack of injuries.

"I…we've been in an, erm…accident." That was all I could really muster. Katniss nodded and simply asked, "Can we come in? I want to speak to Haymitch."

In spite of the situation, Effie looked slightly crestfallen at Katniss' obvious favouritism. "Of course!" She ushered us into the front room, closing the front door behind her. "Haymitch is just, erm, getting ready for bed. He must still be in the bathroom; I'll go and bring him down."

Katniss and I quickly heard the sound of thundering footsteps down the stairs, followed by Haymitch storming into the living room wearing what can only be described as a maroon silk robe. It would have been quite funny if this weren't such a serious situation. He looked from me to Katniss as though searching for some visible signs of a catastrophe. "Well?" He asked impatiently, "What's going on? Effie said you'd been in an accident." Effie, who had just returned, nodded fervently.

"Sit down; both of you," said Katniss, "neither of us are hurt."

"Well what happened then?" asked Haymitch, looking no less relaxed. His hair was quite damp; Effie must have pulled him out of the bath. He sunk into the leather armchair and Effie perched on the armrest. I looked at Katniss, wondering who was going to relay the story. She took a deep breath. "Well, I suppose I was the first one awake this morning…"

She told the story rather succinctly, and Effie consistently asked questions rather hysterically throughout. Haymitch eventually told her to be quiet. I felt Katniss' hand on mine as she recalled our narrow escape. "I really thought…well, I honestly thought we might not make it out of there. But the thing is," she looked desperately at Haymitch fo help, "The thing what scared me the most was that I don't know who that was! At least in the Games I knew what I was fighting against."

"But at least you had Peeta with you," Haymitch smiled at me, his hand on Katniss' shoulder. "Sounds like you were quite the hero back there."

Katniss looked round sharply, as though she'd only just remembered I was there. She attempted a smile. "Yeah…he really was. Thanks Peeta." She clasped my hand a little tighter.

"What about Gale?" Haymitch asked, "Are you sure he's going to be alright."

I looked at Katniss, unsure how to answer. "Well, I'm not really sure," I confessed, "I think physically he wasn't too badly beaten up, but he was acting very strangely in the car on the way back home."

"Understandably," said Haymitch, deadpan.

"No, I mean more than you'd expect. He was so quiet, and like Katniss said, he started being really high-strung with her when we were looking for the car."

"And the two of you just let him go?" Effie was incredulous. "The poor guy - where did he go?" She regarded me impatiently as she paced around the room. Her sympathy for us seemed to have evaporated considerably. In hindsight, I did think I'd been a bit selfish not to make much of an effort to help Gale, when he'd clearly been very distressed.

"I don't know," I replied. "I'm sorry."

"But Effie," Katniss argued, "You know what he's like. He's not someone who talks about his problems is he?"

Effie pursed her lips but said no more.

"Anyway are _you two _alright; that's the issue at the moment."

"I'd be fine, as long as that lunatic was locked up," I said, "It's a pity we didn't get a look at his face; now he'll be on the loose until…I don't know, until someone gets hurt anyway."

"Well, it sounds like it was you in particular he was targeting," said Haymitch, "but…ah." He gave a pained utterance, and I knew what he was about to say was going to make things slightly more complicated. "I don't know how aware you are of all that's been going on in the world," he began, "but I'm willing to guess not a lot; you are newlyweds after all."

"Hey, we're not the kind of people who-" Katniss interrupted angrily, but Haymitch cut her off in turn.

"It doesn't matter," he waved his hand, "The point is, that recently there's been quite a lot of upset in the country. You see, I'm sure you'll understand when I tell you that the outcome of the uprising wasn't exactly ideal for everyone."

I suddenly understood what he was getting at. "Well, we saw that thing on the news the other day about the shortages in some other districts due to the rioting," I remembered, "you don't think that this has got something to do with-"

"All I'm saying," he replied slowly, "Is that, yes, there are people out there who don't exactly want to see Katniss bear the er, what was the name they were talking about?" he chuckled slightly at a thought, "ah yes. They don't want to Katniss give birth to baby _Mockingjay Mellark _any time soon."

"I'm not going to call a baby 'Mockingjay'!" Katniss cried indignantly, "but I guess that's not exactly the point, is it?"

Haymitch shook his head. "No, it's not the point. The point is that there are a bunch of crazies out there who don't like the way the country has falling into 'disorder' ever since the Capitol lost all its power and since the end of the Hunger Games."

"That's ridiculous!" shouted Katniss, "How can they say that; what could be worse than-"

"Stop interrupting me," Haymitch held up a hand patiently. "The thing is that, sadly, a lot of people were much better off under the old regime- I'm talking mostly about people in the richer districts, obviously- who don't like the way the wealth has been redistributed, the way people have started moving around the country more…that sort of thing. And, a lot of people from the Capitol ended up in prison when they feel like they were only acting in the way they'd been brought up to."

There was silence for a moment, as all eyes turned to Effie. I'd expected Effie's history to come up at some point. She may have toned down her image, but the fact remained that she was a Capitol citizen by birth, and one who had ultimately become notorious in District 12 as a sort of child-snatcher, whose cheerful face at the reaping had come to be considered as the face of the totalitarian regime. It occurred to me that she may not be living here entirely openly.

She looked quite uncomfortable about the subject. She finally spoke, but didn't look any of us in the eye. "Well, you're right I suppose," she admitted. "I don't know what you seem to be expecting me to say. I certainly don't know anything about this…_unrest._ I've already explained to you," she turned to Haymitch, "that I'm not in contact with anyone from the Capitol anymore."

"But do you agree with them?" Katniss asked suddenly.

"Katniss!" I was shocked. I expected Katniss to mumble an apology, but instead she looked intently at Effie, forcing her to meet her gaze. Effie looked just as taken aback as I did, particularly as Haymitch made no attempts to stand up for her when she looked at him.

"What do you mean, Katniss?" she whispered, a definite hint of anger in her voice.

"All I'm saying," Katniss said a little more gently, "Is that I can- to a point- understand why you might be a bit unhappy at the way things turned out. I mean, most of the country was pretty repressed, but you…well, you had it just fine didn't you?"

Effie completely lost her composure. She'd been holding a glass of water, which picked up from the mantelpiece and threw down on the floor, shattering it into pieces. My heart stopped; I had never seen Effie like this. "I defended you!" she shouted at Katniss, "I went to prison for you and your rebellion!"

"And I got you out of there!" Katniss leapt up from her chair in rage, "I didn't have to do that, Effie; you'd be dead if it weren't for me!"

"I could say the same," she hissed. "Haymitch, Cinna and I moulded you into the 'Mockingjay' that made you so popular. You'd have been nowhere without us- not that you were ever grateful. It could just has easily have been Peeta," she pointed at me, causing my insides to squirm uneasily as I knew what was coming; "At least we had some likeability to work with there! But we wanted you both to have a fighting chance. Don't talk about things you don't understand."

Katniss made a disgusted face. It was the same face she made whenever she read some gossipy article about her leading me on, which seemed to be all the rage, and which broke my heart. "Oh, and let me guess; you were all in agreement that I wasn't good enough for him? You all wanted Peeta to win really, didn't you? I bet even now you want him to leave me and meet some nice Capitol fangirl with 'impeccable manners'!" She started speaking in a high pitched, cringeworthy imitation of Effie's voice. "Who will know how to use four types of fork and know how to wear pretty clothes like a nice lady should!'"

Effie turned scarlet. "How dare you? How dare you make fun of me in my own home. You're right Katniss; my life _was _a lot easier back in the old days. But I gave up my own livelihood for other people- and I don't regret it." She spoke firmly, but Katniss continued talking about me. I looked at the floor, powerless to intervene as she dug herself into an even deeper hole.

"You were very concerned about Gale right now, weren't you? I suppose that's what you want, isn't it? For me to stop being a burden to Peeta and take up with someone I'm 'better suited to'. Am I right?" There were tears in her eyes now.

Effie merely sneered and laughed coldly. "You want the honest truth, _darling? _I think they both deserve much, much better than you."

Katniss slapped her hard across the face before any of the rest of us could see it coming. Effie clutched at her cheek and looked back in shock after she stumbled, the wind completely blown out of her sails. Her mouth moved but no words came out. Finally, Haymitch came to her defence.

"Apologise!" he shouted forcefully in a way that I'd never seen him do. The impact of his voice seemed to cause Katniss physical pain as she flinched, the tears coming thick and fast down her cheeks. She didn't say anything. Haymitch growled, dangerously "Apologise…or leave this house."

I realised this was my cue to step in for Katniss. I knew that in this precise moment I had to be on her side. In spite of her treatment of Effie, this was just one of those moments which could quite easily make or break a relationship. With Effie and Haymitch as well as Katniss. I'd never realised just how much of an inferiority complex she had about our relationship until right now and it made me quite emotional.

"Listen," I said, trying to keep my voice calm, "we're getting way off the issue here; Katniss only did that because of the trauma of today. Surely you can understand that, Effie?" Haymitch went to reply, but Effie beat him to it.

"You're right," she said, her voice shaking slightly, "Forget about it. I just want to know what we're all going to do next." She sank into a chair and closed her eyes, her left hand still rubbing her stinging cheek.

"I'm sorry Effie," Katniss croaked, "I didn't mean to say those things." She sounded robotic, and wasn't totally telling the truth, but her apology itself was, I was sure, quite sincere.

"You guys just don't get it, do you?" Haymitch's anger had subsided, but he was still deadly serious, and struggling to keep his temper. "We- the four of us- need each other. That's the truth. In the beginning of everything, it was the four of us. Everyone who came along since is gone from the equation now. They're either dead, or they've moved on with their lives. I don't care about the past-" he smiled over at Effie, who returned his smile lovingly- "None of us have to prove anything to each other; that's the difference between how we can behave in this room, and how we can behave around other people. Does everyone understand what I'm saying?"

We all nodded.

"I'm sorry too, Katniss." Effie said. Her encouragement from Haymitch seemed to have soothed her immensely. "I really didn't mean what I said about you and Peeta. You make each other happy and that's all that counts to me."

"Oh, enough with this drivel!" Haymitch groaned, making us all laugh. "Now, back to the matter at hand…" and that was that. The events of the past few minutes were done with and Haymitch was talking as though we'd never been interrupted. I think I'd started to idolise Haymitch a little too much by this point.

"But what can we do?" asked Katniss, "If anyone is really out to get us then they'll know where we live, even if they're from another district. Everyone knows about the Victor's Village. Plus, we can't exactly give a physical description to the police- 'someone wearing a balaclava'- it's not much for them to go on."

"Yeah and I don't think it's a good idea to tell too many people. It would only cause a panic," I said. But that conclusion left me feeling quite exasperated. "But I have no idea what else we can do."

"To be honest," said Haymitch, "That man in the woods sounds like a total loon, but I don't think that he would have actually been all that cold-blooded as to actually kill you. Assassins don't usually give grand speeches to their victims before killing them. Maybe he was just out to scare you."

"That's what I don't understand!" Katniss cried, "I don't see what he hoped to gain by just…scaring us. Unless he did it for some sick pleasure. Another thing I don't get is how he managed to be there in the woods- how did he know we would be there?"

There was another prolonged silence. Haymitch said slowly "Well, I think we all know what we have to do now. None of us knows exactly what happened to Gale in the woods, but from what I've heard it's shaken him up pretty badly. We need to speak to him before we decide to do anything else."

Katniss sighed. "I suppose I'll have to call him now? This can't wait until morning, can it? Oh, but I don't have my phone-"

"It doesn't matter," said Haymitch, "we'll call him from here." He walked over to a rather old-fashioned looking red telephone. I'd seen these before. It had a large receiver that was connected to the body with a long springy cord. The numbers were arranged in a ring, and each number had a few letters of the alphabet on them. I thought it was a bit strange and suspected that, like the kimono, this addition to Haymitch's home was Effie's doing.

"Do you want me to speak to him?" asked Katniss.

"No," replied Haymitch, beginning to dial, "I think he'd probably just ignore you, given the circumstances. I think he'll probably- Gale, where are you?" Apparently Gale had just picked up. Haymitch's face began to fall, and I knew it wasn't good news. "I…er, Gale I'm not sure you should be….no Gale, I- we- just wanted to know that you're alright. We all want you to come over here and…." Haymitch raised a hand to his temple, as though in pain.

"What is it?" Katniss asked in alarm, "what's going on?"

"OK, Gale, we'll be right over…yes, Katniss is coming too."

Katniss and I looked at one another, and then to Effie. It looked like we were all as shocked as one another. Haymitch put down the phone slowly, as though considering something.

"_Well?"_

"He's drunk," said Haymitch matter-of-factly, "I had a feeling he'd be in the town trying to pick up some broad, which he seems to be doing with limited success at the moment. We need to go looking for him before he starts telling stories about today." He strode out the room purposefully, followed by Effie.

"I'm coming too," she said, "I don't want to be left alone in this house wondering what's going on. I'll go mad with worry."

"Fine! Look, just hurry up!"

Katniss and I bolted upright and followed Haymitch to the front door. Haymitch was sliding his feet into some boots.

"Uh…Haymitch?" I asked, "shouldn't you get changed first?"

"What- oh!" Haymitch pushed past us and dashed upstairs to change out of his robe and presumably put some decent clothes on. I waited with Katniss and Effie at the bottom of the stairs as the latter put on her coat. Haymitch hurried down wearing a crumpled shirt and trousers that he'd clearly been wearing all day.

"Hurry up!" I mimicked Haymitch, trying to lighten the mood a little but Haymitch didn't smile.

"We'll take my car," he said. He then added, with a wry laugh, "It'll be the first time I've been sober enough to drive it in a long time."

"Wait!" I said suddenly, forgetting the situation. Everyone else was already out the front door and they looked back at me in shock. I'd remembered something very important.

"Can we stop off at McDonald's on the way? I think I might faint if I don't get something to eat…"

* * *

><p>"I'll have the Boneless Banquet," said Katniss, as Haymitch pulled up to the drive through window.<p>

"That's KFC," I snorted, rather unnecessarily.

"Sorry," Katniss sneered, "I'm not as obsessed with fast food as you are."

"What is KFC, anyway?" asked Haymitch.

"Kentucky Fried Chicken, replied Effie.

"What the hell is a Kentucky?" Katniss was quite nonplussed.

"I think it was a country…" I said. "Or maybe I'm thinking of something else."

"Will you both shut up?" snarled Haymitch from the front seat, "the man's here to take your order."

A skinny, bored-looking youth appeared at the window. "Hello, welcome to-" his eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey, aren't you Haymitch Abernathy?"

"Yeah," began Haymitch, "but-"

"OMG I am so pleased to meet you! I'm Chip."

"_Chip?"_

"Yeah man," Chip gushed, reaching in through the window to shake Haymitch's hand. I don't think he actually saw Katniss and me in the back seats, or if he did he didn't care. Haymitch has his own fans, separate to ours, apparently. "You're such a legend, everyone knows you. I've never seen you around here before though. But I heard you couldn't drive anymore because of alcoholic liver disease?"

Katniss and I buried our faces in laugher in the back seats, while Effie merely turned her head away, smirking. Haymitch, it goes without saying, wasn't so amused.

"That was just a rumour!" he snapped, "Anyway, I'm here to order food, not give out my medical history. And I'm in a but of a hurry actually."

Chip looked very crestfallen, and I felt quite sorry for him. He obviously hadn't meant to offend Haymitch. "Oh, uh, sorry sir. What would you like?"

"Two salads, both of them with a nice plain bottle of water," he turned back to us, grinning evilly. "My friends are on a diet." Never laugh at the designated driver is my new motto. Katniss, however, continued to look amused.

"OK, thanks…" Chip took payment. "Um, your meals will be ready at the next window.

"Thanks," said Haymitch, pulling away. He turned back to us again. "Well, it's not quite a Boneless Banquet but I'm sure your salad will be quite delicious…lots of lettuce and onions, Peeta. Yummy!" Effie burst into a fit of giggles and she too, craned her neck to look smugly at me and Katniss.

"Not so fast, love." Haymitch said to her, "Thought I didn't see you smiling in the mirror, eh?"

Effie's smile vanished, as Haymitch picked up our salads and handed them back to us. In all honesty, I was so hungry that I didn't really care what I ate, as long as it was vaguely edible. I took a deep gulp of my water and prodded my salad with my plastic spork.

"…it's moist and soggy." I looked at Katniss, who was tucking into hers, albeit with a slightly embittered look on her face, with the air of someone taking an unpleasant dose of medicine. She nodded in agreement.

"Well…" said Haymitch, "you know how they spit in the food of people they don't like…"

Katniss spat her mouthful back out into her tub. The rest of us burst into hysterics. Katniss took a sip of her water and closed her tub in disgust. "Screw it," she said, "I'll just eat the croutons."

I decided to eat all my salad. I was well aware as I was eating it that I could actually be sampling someone else's saliva, but I really did think that I'd be ill if I didn't eat up.

"Maybe it was Chip," mused Haymitch, "He completely ignored you two didn't he? How does the contents of a hormonal acne-ridden teenager taste, Peeta?"

This was the point at which I finally abandoned the salad. "Let's just pick up Gale and get the hell out of here…"

We drove down into the nightclub area. Time to hit the town. In hunting gear.


	7. Man About Town

District Twelve has never been known for its nightlife. In fact, I don't think we had any kind of clubs up until a few years ago because people were too focused on, you know, surviving. I'm sure most people living in Twelve would have had no idea what a club even was, in that sense.

But that's all changed now. Maybe it was the revolting salad I'd just consumed, but I began to feel a great sense of foreboding as we approached the glowing neon street in Haymitch's car, knowing that we had quite a night's work ahead of us. Of course, this was the main hotspot, Revolution Street, where all the most popular places were. Well, there were only about half a dozen bars on each side of the precinct but this extended much further back into the town centre where all the sleazier and cheaper pubs were located under cover of darkness.

I've never really been a big fan of clubbing and Katniss is the same. The only experience we had of this sort of lifestyle was in the Capitol, so I think that's understandable. I can still remember how disgusted I was at the wastefulness of all the high mucks in power at that party.

Haymitch pulled in a few spaces behind a taxi rank, giving us a good view of the main street from top to bottom. He turned off the engine but unsurprisingly nobody seemed to take this as their cue to get out of the car; we all just sat there in silence for a moment.

"It doesn't look very busy," Effie mumbled.

She wasn't wrong. Doormen and bouncers lined the entrances but there seemed to be little point; I certainly didn't see any queues and there wasn't a lot of noise. The atmosphere was more like you get once the night is over. Looking out the window I saw the taxi drivers were beginning to get out their newspapers and books to pass the time, so evidently none of them were expecting to get a fare anytime within the next few minutes. Completely dead.

"Well, I suppose it is still early," Haymitch folded his arms and stretched out his legs, "Some of them aren't even open yet, are they?"

"Well where is Gale then?" asked Katniss, "Do you think we should call him?"

"Nah, he's not answering his phone. But hey, he can't have gone far. Now…should we go? Effie?"

Effie sat rigidly; I suspected that this wasn't her idea of a good time either. "Well…shouldn't I just wait in the car? I mean, I'm really not dressed for it, I-"

"I'm wearing hunting gear, and so is Peeta!" Katniss snapped. "Besides, what if the three of us get accosted by fans? We need you to be the anonymous one."

"But…what if they recognise me?" There was a genuine fear in her voice now.

"Don't be stupid," Haymitch patted her on the shoulder. "You look a right mess; they'd never know it was you. Anyway, I intend to have a drink," he opened the car door, "so I may need you to drive me back."

Well, that was that. We all got out of the car and headed to the nearest bar. Usually, if Katniss and I are out in public, we try to keep our heads down to avoid attention, with limited success. When you're going clubbing dressed like someone who's spent the last few hours running from a maniac in the woods, anonymity is apparently a lot harder. I could feel the disbelieving eyes on us as we walked past the taxi rank. You would think that in this situation embarrassment would not be an issue, but something else that my experience in the Hunger Games arena taught me is that embarrassment and pride are not things that can be overcome so easily.

"This is extraordinary," hissed Katniss, "when I find Gale I'm going to kill him. What does he think he's doing?"

"I don't know," I replied, "but it's like I said, I think he probably had a bit of a traumatic experience in the woods…maybe he's just going to drink his worries away. I know what you mean though; it's pretty embarrassing to be out looking like this."

"If the press gets some photos of you two partying in hunting gear then that's the least of your problems," murmured Haymitch darkly, "I thought you were supposed to be worried about that man in the woods?"

"Exactly," said Effie, "just be grateful that you've got each other and that you're safe for now."

"Alright!" Katniss was affronted, "There's no need to be so high and mighty about it, Peeta was just saying."

We arrived at the doors to the first club on the street: King's. It was comparatively toned down when you looked at the rest of the area, and there was only one man working on the door. He was a typically very wide and intimidating man, and he eyed our party with suspicion, blocking our way as he did so.

"Hey, this is a classy establishment," he grunted. "You can't just walk in here looking like you're settling in for a night on the sofa. Or whatever…" he cast a nasty glance over the getup that Katniss and I were wearing.

Haymitch snarled. "Look mister, I really don't think it's your business to turn away perfectly legal, paying clientele so if you don't mind-" Haymitch moved to brush past him, but was stopped again.

"I'm just saying," the bouncer's tone of voice was beginning to rise, "that we operate on a very strict dress code. I know exactly who you are, but that doesn't change the fact that- oh!- well, erm…maybe you should just…"

"Thank you," Haymitch grinned through gritted teeth, handing him the monetary notes he'd started waving in the air.

We brushed past and entered the bar, to find it almost completely empty. Classy establishment? Yeah, right. There was a single bar at the end of the room, and about a dozen tables that clearly hadn't been cleaned in days. There were few groups of younger people milling around but that was it. Looks of recognition appeared on their faces as Haymitch strode towards one of the booths.

"Haymitch," Katniss whispered, "What are you doing? Gale isn't here."

"I don't pay to get in anywhere only to leave ten seconds later."

Katniss sighed but we followed Haymitch and slid into a booth. I wondered whether we'd get any autograph hunters.

"OK, what does everyone want? I think our brave little soldiers deserve a drink." Haymitch's eyes were fixed on the list pinned to the wall, and was practically foaming at the mouth. I was surprised to see a snacks menu right next to it. My appetite suddenly returned at the thought of nice fatty carbohydrate-based nourishment.

"Well, I'll have a portion of fries if you don't mind, Haymitch."

"Yeah same," nodded Katniss, "I'm still starving."

"Will they still serve hot food this late?" asked Effie.

"Well, if they don't then Peeta and I can just get some BBQ beef crisps," said Katniss, looking slightly crestfallen at the idea of no fries.

"I was actually talking about drinks," said Haymitch quite impatiently.

"We're here to find Gale!" I reminded my alleged mentor, "It's not the time to get drunk!"

"It's _always _time to get drunk," said Haymitch gleefully. Effie, sitting next to him, looked rather worried. "But seriously, nobody is getting drunk. I just thought that since we've paid to come in here we might as well stay a while. Besides," he smiled, "you all look quite nervous. You could do with a drink."

"What's a Jägerbomb?"

"What?"

"I don't know what it is," said Effie, "It's just a weird looking word, that's all." She was gazing at a pamphlet advertising certain drinks offers. She put it down and shrugged.

"Four for the price of one?!" Haymitch snatched up the pamphlet. "Who cares what it is, let's get some!"

Katniss and I exchanged glances, "Er…Haymitch, those things are pretty addictive," I said, remembering a night several years ago.

"Four Jagerbombs please!" Haymitch strode over to the bar to the sound of cheering from the crowd. Haymitch actually has a great deal of respect from the people of District Twelve, but I doubt very much that any of them would respect him quite enough to help curb his drinking problem.

Haymitch returned with- oh dear- four full glasses…and a two bottles; one bottle of Jagermeister and one of Red Muttation.

"Haymitch!" Effie snapped, "what on Earth are you playing at?" Katniss and I took her side; this was getting beyond a joke now.

"What?" asked Haymitch, his face the very picture of innocence, "they offered them to me on the house. I'm very well respected in this area, in case you weren't aware of that."

Effie wasn't impressed. "Haymitch, we're supposed to be looking for Gale and I really don't think – mmm, this is quite nice actually." She took a sip of her jagerbomb mid-sentence. She paused for a moment and gazed out the window into the cold evening. "Well…I suppose it wouldn't be too bad an idea to stay here for a while. I mean, we are at the end of the street. We'll probably see him wandering down to the taxi rank half-cut if he's in any trouble."

"Exactly!" Haymitch planted an affectionate kiss on her cheek. "Drink up everyone!"

I looked at Katniss, and she returned my worried expression. Of course, we both knew that helping out Gale was not going to be achieved by sitting in one little bar watching Haymitch get progressively more drunk…but on the other hand the two of us had learned over the years that Haymitch had a surprising amount of wisdom. He was always one or two steps ahead of the game and as such we'd learned to put our faith in him.

"Uh…excuse me." A blonde young woman a few years younger than me was hovering nervously at the table. She quickly looked back at her group of friends on the other side of the room; obviously they had encouraged her to come over.

"Yes?" I asked politely.

"Um…I was just wondering, could I get your autograph? Oh, and yours too, I suppose…" she turned to Katniss, as though she didn't want to offend her.

"Sure, no problem," I flashed her a winning smile, but Katniss was evidently less impressed, "that's fine. What would you like me to sign?" I looked around for a pen, but she quickly produced one from her handbag, along with a drinks menu.

"I don't really have anything else with me that you could sign," she mused, "So this will have to do."

I started to write. "OK…let's see. 'Dear…'"

"Molly."

"'Dear Molly, best wishes, love Peeta Mellark. Kiss Kiss Kiss.'"

"Thanks, that's amazing!" she gushed, handing the pen to Katniss. Katniss rolled her eyes, but quickly scrawled.

"'And Katniss. Kiss'"

"Thanks! I just have to say, you're both so amazing! I don't know why you're dressed like that, but it really suits you. Anyway, sorry to disturb you!" she tottered off back to her table while all her friends squealing in delight.

Haymitch looked faintly amused. "Big mistake there, pal."

I was nonplussed, "What are you talking about? She was nice enough. I couldn't really have said no, could I?"

"No," said Katniss, "but you could have been a bit less friendly. Now all her friends will want to come over. You could have made it look like a bit more of an effort."

Effie chuckled merrily. I noticed out the corner of my eye that she'd already downed her drink. "Oh, don't be mean, you two. Peeta's just too lovely to be like that, aren't you, dear?"

I was a little embarrassed, but nodded nonetheless. "Hey, Katniss…do you think we should go and look for Gale? Before all my- our- fans know that we're in the area? Maybe you're right about them getting in our way."

"No," said Katniss, "I'm staying here for now. We'll finish our drinks because Haymitch bought them for us and then, if Gale doesn't appear, we'll go out and look for him ourselves."

"He's a grown man anyway," said Haymitch, "you know, he'd probably be embarrassed if we confronted him while he's busy necking off with some broad. On reflection, maybe we've been too rash."

Katniss nodded. "He has a good point."

I had a bad feeling about this. "Well that seems fair enough, but he's had quite a bad experience today."

"So have we," Katniss said decisively, "in case you've forgotten. Maybe I need a drink and a chance to calm down." She took a gulp of her Jagerbomb. "I'm in my twenties for God's sake. For the moment, life is easy for us Peeta." She took on a darker tone. "What if this rioting business spirals out of control?"

"You'll have to save the world again, little heroes," giggled Effie.  
>"Yeah. Come on, Peeta." She looked at me kindly, "Sometimes you can be too nice for your own good. Do you think Gale would go running around looking for you on a drunken night out?"<p>

"Nah, he'd be too busy trying to give Katniss a shoulder to cry on," Haymitch looked at me as if daring me to deny it.

I considered. I had to agree to a certain point. Even if we did find Gale drunk, then what? Take him home for being disobedient. Gale was very strong willed and he wouldn't take kindly to his love rival (in truth) showing him up like that in front of a crowd of his fans.

"Well…look, you guys are my family I suppose. Maybe I should just listen to you. Maybe a quick drink would be good for all of us."

* * *

><p><strong>HALF AN HOUR LATER<strong>

"So anyway...what was I saying? Oh yeah. So anyway..." Effie pointed her finger at the barman, who'd come over to get Haymitch's autograph. "I have to say, you're running a very nice business here."

"Thank you," the young man said awkwardly, "That's not what most people say; it's generally very quiet in here."

"Well I like it," declared Effie, preparing herself another drink, this one in roughly a 50:50 ratio.

Haymitch posed for a photograph with his fanboy. "By the way," he said, starting to get a little red in the face himself, "do you know who Gale Hawthorne is? We've lost him…"

"Katniss," I whispered in alarm, gesturing her to huddle in for a private conversation.

"What?"

"I think we'd better get these two out of here and into the fresh air. We can't have them mouthing off about what happened today."

Katniss nodded. She and I had politely drunk our single drinks but had had nothing else. She glanced at our former aides in disgust.

"Uh, yeah, I know Gale Hawthorne," replied the bartender, "I mean, not personally, but you'd have to be blind and deaf not to-"

"The thing is," Haymitch interrupted, "you may have noticed that none of us came dressed for a night out," he took a swig of Jagermeister straight from the bottle ("Haymitch! Manners!" squealed Effie), "we've actually come to collect our friend who we think is down in the town somewhere. Have you seen him?"

The bartender shook his head, "No, not tonight. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen him in here. Is he in some sort of trouble?"

"Well-"

"Nope," interjected Katniss quickly, "We were just wondering, that's all. Anyway," she announced, "Peeta and I have decided that it's probably best that we get off. We might call back in here just before we leave for the night." She grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the booth with her.

"And you two," she said.

"Actually, that's a good- hic- idea," Effie drained her glass and slid out the booth. She stumbled a little and I had to hold her arm to steady her. She seemed to find it highly amusing. "I'm just going to the bathroom," she turned around in a full 360 degree circle, looking puzzled. "I can't find it."

"Over there," Katniss sighed impatiently, pointing in the right direction."

"Ah!" Effie quickly disappeared from sight.

"She'll be fine in a while," Katniss murmured, "Now for the other one.

"Haymitch? Are you coming?" I asked.

He looked up at me in annoyance. "Look, I'm just trying to have a nice time. One of my supporters has come over to have a chat with me and you're ruining it."

"You can talk to your fans anytime! We came here for a reason, _remember_?"

Haymitch sighed, "Fine. Fine!" He waved his hands to disperse any gatherers, "Mr. Hero of Panem has spoken people! Just give me a moment to get up." He hauled himself out of his seat and put on his coat. "I'm telling you now," he lowered his voice to speak directly to me, "If we get accused of interfering or get in any trouble, I'm blaming it on you."

I nodded. "That's awesome, Haymitch. Remember that you were the one who insisted we come out this evening in the first place."

Haymitch glowered at me, maybe accepting that I had a point. "Where's Effie?"

"She's just gone to the bathroom," said Katniss, "she'll be back in a second. By the way, I've been meaning to ask you: You and Effie- how the hell did that happen, exactly?"

"Well, I- oh, here she comes."

Effie tottered back over, rubbing her head, "The lights in there are way too bright; I've got a bit of a headache now. Oh, are we all going? Well, I could do with some air."

We waved goodbye to the patrons and staff and headed out, only to see that the precinct had become a lot busier since we'd arrived. Katniss rounded on Effie and Haymitch the moment the door to King's was closed. "What are you two doing? This isn't a night out; we all need to keep clear heads and there you two are getting so wasted-"

"Don't be so stupid," snarled Haymitch, "It takes a lot more than that to get me drunk, unfortunately. You should know that by now."

"I was talking more about her," she jerked her head in Effie's direction.

"I am not drunk!" Effie looked affronted, "How dare you? What are we doing here anyway; I want to go back inside. I'm cold."

Katniss ignored her and turned to me. "Well…where do you think we should try next? And when I say 'try'", she looked at Haymitch, "I mean that we're going to go in and very briefly look around to see if Gale is in there. We're not going to stay anywhere more than a few minutes because I am now so tired and-" she broke off, suddenly too upset to speak.

"You've had a hard day," Effie simpered, patting Katniss' head, "I agree; I think we should find, er, Gale and then go home. This place is a total dump anyway; full of layabouts," she cast a disapproving glance across the street, where someone was being violently sick in a strategically placed bin, "but then I suppose I'm used to much better than you are."

"I'm sure you are, Effie," I said, "but I hope you can stand being around District Twelve peasants for just a while longer, especially since you're planning on _living_ here from now on."

We stood quietly in the shadows for a moment, so far unnoticed by any of the other clubbers. "So what now, then?" said Haymitch.

"Well, you're better acquainted with the bars around here than me," I pointed out, "I was hoping that you'd have a better idea of where Gale was likely to be."

"If I knew that, I would have told you straight away," replied Haymitch impatiently, "I actually have no idea where he's going to be. I don't know whether you're aware of this, but Gale is quite the party animal, all told. It's beginning to worry me, because he's not living up to his full potential."

I found this rather hypocritical. "Let's go down the street and work our way back," I said, "I'm not going to go into every bar in the District though; I'll do this street and then I'm going home. You can stay out if you want," I said to Katniss, "but honestly, I've started to get sick of Gale dictating our lives."

"What's brought this on?" Katniss said sharply, "you were fine just a few minutes ago."

"That's before people started looking and pointing at me because I'm wearing a goddamn hunting suit." I noticed a group of girls across the street who looked similar in age to Molly and her gang in the bar we'd just left, only a lot scarier. Bizarrely, they all seemed to have adopted a certain old Capitol style fashion, which I actually found quite offensive in District Twelve. They looked mostly too drunk to actually recognise us…or so I thought.

"Spear me, Peeta!" One of them called, as her friends all burst into hysterical laughter.

"How disgusting!" hissed Effie, clinging onto a lamppost as she bent to tie her shoe, "Women should have more decorum! And that hairstyle is just ridiculous."

"Let's just get out of here," said Katniss, as more people turned around at the sound of my name. I suddenly understood why a lot of other celebrities had bodyguards. The four of us quickly walked down the street to the next bar, which must have been busier than the previous one as a small queue was forming outside as people showed their ID. It seemed stupid to stand and wait, so we made to bypass this bar and move onto the next one, but the doorman spotted us before we could get past.

"Oh my God! Peeta and Katniss! And Haymitch! What are you doing; you don't have to wait in the queue!"

"Thanks!" said Haymitch, pushing past the other clubbers, most of whom seemed outraged at this blatant privileges system. Obviously, I wasn't too worried about that at the moment, and I happily – but apologetically- followed in Haymitch's wake.

"Excuse me…pardon me, thanks…sorry."

"Hey!" cried a small black man as we reached the front of the line, "I've been waiting here to get in for ages!"

"Tough shit," said Haymitch, shaking the doorman's hand, "Survive two Hunger Games and bring about a revolution and I'll give you a lollipop."

Haymitch, Katniss and I reached the front and waited for the doorman to let Effie past, but instead he held the barrier out in front of her and frowned. This doorman may have been a lot less burly and younger than the other one, but he clearly had the same sense of pseudo-authority. "Wait a minute, I don't know you. Sorry darling, but only District Twelve heroes get privileges here."

"Yeah!"

"Too right, get to the back!"

Effie looked to us for assistance. "Er…well…I…"

"Come on pal, do me a favour?" said Haymitch to the doorman.

"Sorry sir, but I can't just-"

"She's my mother," blurted out Katniss, "And she's had a really hard time recently. Come on, you can let her through, right?" She batted her eyelashes at the doorman in a very un-Katniss-like way.

"Oh…well, OK then." He grudgingly pulled the cord back to let Effie past. Nobody was going to stand there and argue with the (supposed) woman who had famously had her family destroyed by the Capitol. If they'd taken a closer look at her, the people present probably would have been able to tell that Effie certainly was not Katniss' mother, but to be honest on closer inspection…none of these people seemed to be from around District Twelve originally.

Anyway, we quickly entered the building to avoid any more arguments, but I could sense another one brewing very quickly.  
>"Your <em>mother?!"<em> said Effie, "Do I look old enough to be your _mother?!"_ She actually sounded quite worried.

"Be quiet; you got in, didn't you? Anyway, we couldn't tell them your real name, could we? I doubt you qualify as a 'District Twelve Hero'. More like a villain."

That shut Effie up.

My initial impressions of the club were that it wasn't a particularly impressive place; it was much bigger than the previous bar we'd been to although the décor was pretty similar. The neon lights in here, however, were mostly green, and there was a bizarre neon sickle suspended above the clock at the far end of the room. However, I didn't really have much chance to take things in, it turned out.

There was a hushed silence as we walked further into the club; we were spotted almost immediately. It was like the calm before the storm, and, not seeing Gale anywhere, I thought it might be best if we immediately left. However, to my surprise, I found Haymitch steering me towards a table.

"What are you-?"

"Wait a minute, just let Katniss have her moment."

I didn't understand. Katniss? But sure enough, in the next few seconds, there was a mad rush of patrons getting up from their seats and rushing across the room as Katniss stood their helplessly. We'd had this kind of experience before, but what was strange was that everyone else in the room seemed to be ignoring the rest of us. Their was a crowd of people surrounding Katniss that was now so big and loud that she'd disappeared from view, lost in a sea of signing autographs presumably. I got up from my seat but Haymitch made me sit down again.

"Haymitch, I don't understand."

"Think about it for a moment," he smiled at me, seeming to enjoy my confusion. "Look at the people for a moment; don't you think there's something significant about them as a group?"

I…well, actually yes there was, now that Haymitch mentioned it. The majority of people in the club, like the people who'd been waiting in line-

"Why are there so many black people in here?" whispered Effie. Luckily the music and crowd were too loud to hear her. "It feels like I'm in District Eleven."

That was it. A light bulb flickered on in my head. "Is that what this is?!" I turned to Haymitch incredulously, "Some kind of District Eleven bar? Can you even get them?"

"Apparently. They must have built this place to attract migrants or something."

"I don't get it," said Effie, "I don't get why you would move only to hang out with people from your own district and exclude other people."

I was about to argue, but…yeah, she was kind of right. Anyway, that wasn't the issue at the moment. Of course, Katniss is treated like a Goddess by people from District Twelve, because of what she did for that girl Rue during the first Hunger Games we were in. That explained completely why, for once, nobody was paying me any attention, though I certainly didn't begrudge Katniss her 'moment', as Haymitch had described it. No, it was nice for her to be treated as an actual hero, as opposed to just another celebrity.

I expected that we'd just hang around for a while until Katniss had stopped dealt with all her fans and we could move on. My heart skipped a beat when I glanced around the room and saw a certain individual leaving the men's room.

"Gale!" I exclaimed, completely relieved and feeling a sense of déjà vu from earlier in the day. Thank God for that.

Haymitch and Effie turned around, but nobody else did. I'm pleased to say that Gale Hawthorne is not a particularly well-known name in other districts, compared to some others.

Gale turned around at the sound and seemed to brush it off as hearing things. I could tell from his face that he was indeed quite drunk. "Gale!" I said again, standing up with Effie and Haymitch, "Over here, Gale!"

We approached him quickly and he groaned as we came into view. "You?" He addressed me in dismay, "What are you doing here; can't you just leave me alone?" He prodded me hard in the chest and Haymitch stepped between us.

"Hey!" he barked at Gale, "we've been worried about you, pal; care to tell us what you've been up to?"

Gale shrugged his shoulders and laughed, "Well, what do you think? I'm on a night out, man. My brothers and their friend invited me - and not you lot so get lost, right? I've had a really shitty day."

He gestured over to the corner of the room where a group of white men were sitting quite conspicuously. I guessed that Gale must have told them to ignore Katniss if she came in, otherwise surely they'd have got up to see her since they all knew her reasonably well.

"Look," said Haymitch, "how about you come back home with us? We've got a _lot _to talk about, if these two have been telling me a true story."

"Don't believe them!" Gale was red in the face now, and for a horrible moment I thought he was going to lash out, "I'm perfectly fine, Haymitch. It'd take more than some crazy-"

"This is not about you," Haymitch said menacingly, leaning in to talk to Gale, "Don't you think that what happened in the woods today might have consequences or bigger problems that we need to think about?" He sighed, and his tone got slightly softer, "You're not a kid anymore, Gale. It's time you got over your pride and realised that there are some things you can't do on your own."

Gale didn't reply immediately. Instead, tears began to appear in his eyes and he suddenly gripped Haymitch in a bear hug. Haymitch looked ever so slightly disgusted and didn't exactly return the favour. "Thanks Haymitch. I love you."

"Uh…thanks, Gale."

"I wish you were my dad."

"Yeah OK, that's enough." Haymitch released himself from Gale's grasp. "Let's grab Katniss and get the hell out of here."

"Katniss?" Gale was suddenly alert, "Is she here? Don't tell her I just hugged you; that's not my style normally."

"Whatever," said Haymitch impatiently, "Look, Katniss is just over there with her some of her fans. She's been worried about you too, you know."

Gale smiled gleefully. This information suddenly perked him up considerably. "I knew she would be. Anyway, do you want to sit down for a minute while we wait? You know my brothers Vick and Rory, right? They've brought their friend along, but he's a little bit weird, so there's no need to talk to him if you don't want to."

We walked over to the booth, and I felt a sense of trepidation creeping up my neck. I'd met Vick and Rory several times. I didn't much care for Vick; he was too brash for my liking and I felt he was quite stupid and blatantly tried to emulate Gale, with little success. I also knew that he wasn't yet old enough to legally be here, so the doorman mustn't have been as good as his job as I'd thought.

"Hey, Haymitch!" Vick called, "Nice to see you," he reached out to shake Haymitch's hand. "Is this some chick you picked up just now?" he let out a bark of laughter before offering his hand to Effie, which she took somewhat reluctantly.

"Nice to meet you, I'm actually Haymitch's girlfriend. I assure you he didn't just pick me up."

"Oh well, that's nice. And Peeta, it's good to see you too. Katniss let you out for the night, did she?" This was obviously a joke, but there was a current of nastiness underneath that I couldn't ignore; Vick had always made no secret of the fact that he wanted Katniss to be with his eldest brother, not me.

I grinned, "Actually she's here. She's just getting mobbed by fans. It's not easy being so successful sometimes. By the way, Vick, what _are _you doing these days? I heard a ridiculous rumour that you failed all your exams."

Vick's smirk immediately vanished. "Actually Peeta, I don't know if you know this, but we're going to be working together from now on."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm going to be on Gale's new show with you," he said proudly.

"Yeah," said Gale, "I asked Vick if he wanted to be one of the people who look after the younger kids at the training camp and he said that he would do it. I think it's good that he's taking an interest in social issues."

I had to suppress a snort. "Yeah, sounds good," I lied.

"I've always been great with kids," Vick said.

"That's because you are one," muttered Haymitch under his breath.

Rory spoke up for the first time. "Anyway Peeta, how was your honeymoon? I haven't really had a chance to speak to you since the wedding."

Rory was Vick's polar opposite. He was well-mannered and thoughtful, and if he hadn't been Gale's brother I think I could have been great friends with him. "It was fantastic," I said, "Katniss and I have got a lot of photos to show everyone."

"Yawn," said Vick, "I thought couples were supposed to constantly be in the bedroom on honeymoon,"

"Be quiet," said Rory sharply.

"Just because you've never got laid," sneered Vick, "even though you're like twenty years old."

"I can't wait to start filming the new show," said Gale quickly, "It's going to be so epic."

"Yes," said the Hawthornes' friend, "I really want to watch it, it should be fun."

"Oh, by the way," said Vick, gesturing to the small, ginger man who had accompanied them, "This is Ginge. He's our neighbour.

"Ginge?" Effie said, holding out her hand, "Is that a nickname because of your hair, then?"

"Yeah," said Ginge, "Nice to meet you, Effie."

We all shook his hand.

"He's been living in the area for a while now," explained Vick, "But- oh, hey Katniss- we've only been hanging out for a couple of weeks. We're both out of work."

Mercifully, Katniss arrived at the table before I had to endure any more of this irritating conversation. "Hey everybody," she looked as relieved as I'd been to find Gale, "I've only just got away from all these fans; they're all so grateful for what I did for Rue in the Hunger Games, you wouldn't believe it. I didn't even know this place existed."

"No," said Gale, "I only just found out about it too. I like the anon- anon…I like the fact that nobody pays attention to me in here. I can just be a regular guy here."

"Well," Haymitch stood up, "It's been a very pleasant chat, but we all have to go now."

"What?"

"Aww, come on Haymitch."

"No," said Haymitch, "We're going to have to borrow Gale for the rest of the evening. I hope you don't mind."

Haymitch didn't give them much of a chance to mind, because he quickly yanked Gale up by the collar and almost frogmarched him out of the building. Katniss, Effie and I quickly made our goodbyes and followed him. It seemed like we'd been doing that a lot recently. Like a queen, Katniss waved to her people as she crossed the dancefloor, thanking them for all their support.

* * *

><p>"I just couldn't believe this happened to me," Gale explained in the car on the way home. "I felt as though I had to go out and have a few drinks and maybe all the memories of today would quickly go away. To tell you the truth, I'm glad that you showed up when you did. It was hard to have to keep what had happened from my brothers and Ginge; they could tell something was wrong."<p>

"But that guy we ran into in the woods…he didn't do anything to you, did he?" asked a very sympathetic Katniss, "Peeta and I thought that because you were acting so strangely, maybe he did…"

Gale shook his head, "Nah, it's just…I can remember leaving you two to have an argument and then this guy must have come at me from behind. I don't remember seeing him at all."

"You've got a really bad bruise on the back of your head," conceded Katniss, "he must have throttled you. The bastard."

Haymitch was driving. I have no idea how far over the limit he was, but he was more worried about the press catching Katniss or me driving his car when neither of us was insured. I couldn't be bothered to argue. "Like I said to Katniss and Peeta, it's probably just another form of resistance," Haymitch said, "I know it's been a terrible experience for all of you though, but I'd honestly advise you to forget it. I'll handle it from here."

"What do you mean?" I asked, "This isn't something that you can just 'handle', we've got to do something! What if other people are targeted next?"

"I don't know," snapped Haymitch, "but there's got to be some solution. The fact is that most people are opposed to the idea of returning things to the way they were before, but that's not true of everyone. I don't think that we should announce this to the media; for one thing there's no real proof. Nobody will buy it if there's no evidence that this even took place."

"But…people support us," I protested, "Why would they think we were lying?"

"The point is," said Haymitch, "I don't think that creating a media storm will solve the issue. At least not yet. Actually, that's exactly what these rebels want, and we're not going to give them the satisfaction. No, we need to find out who these people are, and what they're doing, and we need to do it ourselves."

" 'Ourselves'?" Effie asked sceptically, nursing her head against the window, "What does that mean? The five of us are just going to magically discover this information?"

"Nope," replied Haymitch, "Not just the five of us. We have allies in other districts who were there when we carried out the revolution. We fought the Capitol and we won. We can beat a few dumb radicals."

"But we can't even contact the people we fought with!" I protested, "They're just getting on with their lives, it wouldn't be fair…"

"Don't you think that they might have noticed what's going on already? Who knows, they're probably already forming a plan."

This idea was sounding stranger by the second. "Haymitch," I asked slowly, "Why do you think that anyone who helped us in the revolution is going to help us now? And how do you propose that we get their support without the government interfering. I'm not an idiot; I know that a lot of people in the government are just as corrupt as these rebels. There's no way they'll want any more secret organizations kicking around."

"To answer your first question, they'll help us because they owe us," said Haymitch, "Just as we helped them with their revolution, sticking our necks on the line every day. Secondly, how do you think we'll get in contact with them? Well, think back to the revolution again. How did we send messages across the country then?"

Gale suddenly grinned, "On a strategically-timed mass television broadcast!"

"That's my boy!" Haymitch shouted, "With Katniss and Peeta on your show, you can bet that the whole world will be watching…"

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, hope you liked the chapter and have a feel of where the story is actually going! I know it's taken me a long time to update, I'll try to be faster next time...<strong>


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